While there is no one proven treatment for mesothelioma cancer yet, doctors have developed new treatments over the years that have boosted survival chances. These emerging treatments have identified new targets against mesothelioma cancer.
If you or your loved one is seeking mesothelioma treatment, learning about the latest treatment options can help you pick the right therapy and save costs. Here are some of the latest advancements in treating mesothelioma you should learn about.
Gene Therapy
Gene therapy aims to replace or fix damaged genes that cause cancer cells to grow in the body. Since all body cells have DNA, in some instances, alteration of this DNA causes normal cells to become cancerous tumors. Gene therapy addresses this problem by adding new genes to cancer cells, making killing those cells easier.
Today’s mesothelioma treatment centers have modern labs where special viruses are modified to help with gene therapy. These viruses are then injected into the pleural space to infect the mesothelioma cells. Once the infection happens, the virus releases the desired gene into the cells and helps the body’s immunity stage an attack against the cancer cells, stopping the tumors from growing.
Vaccine Therapy
Cancer vaccines are among the newest cancer treatments. They aim to get the immune system to attack mesothelioma cells, helping patients enjoy a painless treatment procedure. A typical vaccine therapy approach involves removing immune cells from the patient’s blood and treating them in the lab to get them to react to tumor cells. After which, the immune cells are injected back into the patient with the hope that they will trigger the body’s immune system to attack the cancer.
Another approach to vaccine therapy involves carrying certain proteins to the cancer cells to inhibit the cells’ growth. This promising cancer treatment is still under trial and can soon be a breakthrough treatment therapy when optimally harnessed.
Virotherapy
While virotherapy has been practiced for over 70 years now, it only recently became a recommended therapy for mesothelioma. The treatment can be administered through viral immunotherapy, which employs viruses that can help the immune system fight cancer cells. Alternatively, oncolytic viruses can be used to destroy cancer cells while leaving healthy cells unharmed.
The treatment can also use viral vectors to deliver gene therapy or immunotherapy drugs into tumor cells. The active viral activity then forces the immune system to react and kill the cancer site in your body for rapid healing.
Photodynamic Therapy (PDT)
This type of cancer treatment involves injecting drugs that react with a special kind of light. The drug often spreads throughout the body after injection, searching for cancer cells and collecting around the areas with those affected cells. When surgeons shine a special kind of light on cancer cells during surgery, it activates the drug, killing the cells and stopping the cancer from spreading.
PDT is considered to have fewer side effects than other treatment options that involve drugs that spread throughout the body. With PDT, the drug only becomes active in the areas exposed to the light. When fully harnessed, PDT can become an effective treatment for mesothelioma.
Finding the right treatment for mesothelioma cancer depends on several factors, such as the type of mesothelioma and the level of the cancer advancement. Any of these latest approaches in cancer treatment can offer the right solution for your condition.