An asbestos-related cancer called mesothelioma is a particularly deadly cancer that has little help these days from the global medical community (probably due to not being a highly popular cancer).

That doesn't mean a possible treatment should be put on hold, but that is the way some Northern Ireland cancer sufferers are probably feeling right now. A new mesothlioma drug called Alimta will make it to Northern Ireland sometime in the near future (just no this year), as it'll be the last UK region to receive access to the drug.

What's worrisome is that Ireland has a high rate of incurable lung cancer due to its history as a shipbuilding country where workers were regularly exposed to dangerous airborne particles, with some causing mesothelioma cases.

Patients with this disease have a decreased quality of life due to symptoms such as shortness of breath, cough, pain, fatigue, and the inability to eat. One of the scariest parts about this disease is that it can be resistant to most therapies, including surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.

A press release from Alfacell Corporation says that the addition of a drug called Onconase (ranpirnase) to Adriamycin improves survival over Adriamycin alone in patients that have operable mesothelioma. Onconase targets cancer cells while sparing healthy cells. It is taken into the cancerous cell where it kills the cell through various processes. Onconase is not yet proved by the FDA in the United States.

A clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the addition of Onconase to Adriamycin compared to Adriamycin alone. The trial included a total of 143 patients. At one year 47 percent of patients treated with Onconase/Adriamycin were alive compared to 36 percent of patients treated with Adriamycin alone.

The researchers feel that the drug improves outcomes when given with Adriamycin. This trial was a Phase IIIb trial which means it could be up for FDA approval in the near future.

The second article that I read was recently published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology. According to the article treatment with Alimta (pemetrixed) with or without Platinol (cisplatin) provides benefit with malignant mesothelioma who have received prior treatment therapies.

This research was focused on recurrent mesothelioma. Optimal treatment strategies that will improve long-term outcomes for patients with recurrent mesothelioma continue to be evaluated. A Phase III trial was conducted to evaluate treatment including Alimta or Alimta/cisplatin. The trial included 187 patients.

Anticancer responses were achieved in 32.5 percent of patients treated with Alimta/cisplatin compared with 5.5 percent for patients treated with Alimta alone.

The researchers conclude that this is a challenging disease. I bring this information in hopes that anyone diagnosed with is disease can have some information to bring to their physicians to discuss further.

Inhalation of asbestos fibers can cause mesothelioma or asbestos lung cancer.  In the 1980's, occupational jobs handling asbestos were determined to be the largest contributing factors for this disease. Workplace exposure is more rare now but the risks of exposure are still there for some occupations and not only for the people in these occupations but for their family members who might handle their clothing, or that live near facilities that have asbestos and are breathing in the tiny dust particles.

Many occupations have an increased risk for developing lung cancer. For example, asbestos insulation workers have 92 times the risk of developing lung cancer, and smelter workers have 3-8 times the risk of developing lung cancer. The risk of lung cancer is also increased in people who work in the manufacturing of certain industrial gases, pharmaceuticals, soaps and detergents, paints, inorganic pigments, plastics, and synthetic rubber. The risk of developing lung cancer is related to the amount of exposure to the cancer-causing agent asbestos.

Paul Gleason, who played the go-to bad guy in Trading Places and the angry high school principal in The Breakfast Club, has died. He was 67.  Gleason died at a local hospital Saturday of mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer linked to asbestos, said his wife, Susan Gleason.

"Whenever you were with Paul, there was never a dull moment," his wife said. "He was awesome."

A native of Miami, Gleason was an avid athlete. Before becoming an actor, he played Triple-A minor league baseball for a handful of clubs in the late 1950s. Gleason honed his acting skills with his mentor Lee Strasberg, whom he studied with at the Actors Studio beginning in the mid-1960s, family members said.  Through his career, Gleason appeared in over 60 movies that included Die Hard, Johnny Be Good, and National Lampoon's Van Wilder. Most recently, Gleason made a handful of television appearances in hit shows such as Friends and Seinfeld. Gleason's passions went beyond acting. He had recently published a book of poetry. 

"He was an athlete, an actor and a poet," said his daughter, Shannon Gleason-Grossman. "He gave me and my sister a love that is beyond description that will be with us and keep us strong for the rest of our lives."

Gleason was survived by his wife, two daughters and a granddaughter. Funeral plans were pending.

In 2001, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, Debbie Reeve, a FDNY paramedic, spent several months at Ground Zero working in the morgue. Two years later, she developed breathing problems. The next year, Reeve was diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare form of lung cancer. Mesothelioma is a malignant lung cancer linked to asbestos exposure. Reeve was exposed to asbestos particles in the air caused by the collapsing twin towers. According to her physician and her family, her work at Ground Zero is the direct link to the cancer that has taken her life. She died Wednesday, leaving behind her husband, David Reeve, 45, a FDNY paramedic, and two children, a daughter Elizabeth, who is ten years old, and a son Mark, who is only six years old. Her family said she suffered greatly leading up to her death, as the cancer consumed her body.

The Daily News has already reported that 23 Ground Zero workers have died from the toxic mix of chemicals present at Ground Zero. The heartbreak of the day that changed this nation forever, continues.

A $140 billion dollar trust fund that would have provided compensation to people with asbestos-related diseases, failed by two votes in the U.S. Senate. The bill was intended to prevent people made ill from exposure to asbestos from filing lawsuits. Instead, people with asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma, a malignant cancer of the lungs and abdomen resulting from exposure to asbestos particles, would have received payments based on the severity of their illness.

The bill was intended to limit the liability of asbestos manufacturers, sellers of asbestos-containing products, and insurers. The companies would have been required to make contributions to the trust fund, instead of being sued in court.