In November of 2006, Debbie Brewer received devastating news. She was diagnosed with mesothelioma as a result of asbestos exposure and was given only six to nine months to live. It is believed that Brewer was exposed to asbestos fibers from her father after he would return home from his job as an asbestos lagger.

Given her situation and the grim outlook she was given by doctors, Brewer opted to stop her chemotherapy and search for an alternative mesothelioma treatment. She had been told by doctors that Professor Thomas Vogl, of the University Clinic in Frankfurt, Germany was carrying out an experimental treatment for mesothelioma patients.

As a result of winning a prior six figure settlement from her asbestos exposure and consequential health issues, Brewer was able to pay for six sessions at the clinic with Professor Vogl, with each session costing 3,500 pounds or roughly $5,410. At these sessions, Brewer underwent a treatment known as chemoembolisation, which is typically used to fight liver cancer. In chemoembolisation, chemotherapy drugs are introduced directly to the tumor via a catheter that is placed in the lung. The tumor is attacked through an artery so that just the tumor is affected and not the complete nervous system of the patient.

Just two years after Brewer was given months to live, specialists are now saying her tumor has shrunk by more than half its initial size, entered remission, and does not look to be coming back. Moreover, Brewer is campaigning to have the treatment brought to the UK for trials. “I want to give people hope.” she said. “I was told for mesothelioma there is little out there but the results in Germany are fantastic - it's about a 60 per cent success rate.”

According to “The Independent Journal of Clinical Practice,” age is not an independent factor in cancer survival rates and should not influence decisions about how to treat older patients that have been diagnosed with cancer.

Elderly patients who have been diagnosed with cancer have been systematically excluded from clinical trials despite the fact that 60% of cancer occurs in patients over the age of 65.  Elderly participation in clinical trials does not exceed 25%, and as a result, it is extremely difficult to predict how these older patients would have responded to the latest cancer treatments. 

Dr. Eva Domingo and a team of researchers from the University of Barcelona conducted a study in which they looked at 224 patients that had been diagnosed with a cancerous tumor. The patients ranged from 32-92 years of age; with 75% of the participants being male and 61% of the patients being at least 65 years old. In addition, 43% of the patients had respiratory tumors, 29% had gastrointestinal tumors, and 42% had a localized tumor. Unfortunately 62% of the participants did not survive through the one year follow up period.

There were four independent factors that played a significant role in predicting survival.

·        Metastatic dissemination, a measure of how wide the cancer has spread.

·        The level of functional impairment the patient experienced.

·        The patient’s physical quality of life.

·        Serum albumin level, a major protein produced in the liver, and is essential in maintaining pressure in the vascular system. 

Domingo and her team concluded that patients have a better chance for survival if the cancer has not spread; the patient has a good physical quality of life, high serum albumin levels, and fewer problems with functional impairment. According to Domingo, "The patient's age was not an independent factor that predicted how likely they were to survive cancer. Because of this, age, in itself, should not be used to limit diagnostic or therapeutic decisions."

Back in 2002, Kevin Carlberg was told he had 6 to 18 months left to live after being diagnosed with a serious type of brain cancer. Kevin understood his chances for survival were far from ideal, but said, “Every person is different.” As it turns out, Kevin was right. Doctors were able to design a personalized treatment that took Kevin’s own white blood cells and proteins from his tumor, to develop a vaccine that would recognize and attack more cancer in his body.  

Kevin’s story is just one example of a growing strategy being used in the medical field - personalized medicine. Personalized medicine is growing in many different areas of treatment, but cancer could serve to be its greatest use.

Traditionally when someone is diagnosed with cancer, there is a standard treatment that is given, such as a form of chemotherapy. And while these standard treatment options may be effective for many, they may not be the best approach for each individual patient.  

With a tailored treatment approach and targeted drug therapies, however, doctors are able to examine specific genes and molecular processes that suggest the cause of a cancer for that specific individual, as well as its potential growth patterns and what it might take to combat it.

Beyond helping patients on a case to case basis, personalized medicine could go a long way in working to find a cure for cancer. Each time a patient’s cancer is analyzed and treated, new vaccinations and treatments will have been created.  

Personalized medicine still has a long way to go, but it is already beginning to revolutionize the way cancer is being treated and studied.

"Dying was not an option," says Heather Von St. James of Minnesota, who has defied the odds and conquered mesothelioma.

She was diagnosed with the disease nearly three years ago now; Heather believes she was exposed as a child to the asbestos in her father's work clothes. Now, two and a half years after undergoing radical treatment, Heather remains disease-free.

Heather had been experiencing health problems and shortness of breath, but had chalked it up to her first-time pregnancy. When she couldn't ignore the weight in her chest any longer, she consulted her doctors. Three months after giving birth to her daughter Lily, doctors in Minnesota found a lump in Heather's lung the size of an orange. She was given three options: do nothing and live maybe 15 months, try chemotherapy and radiation and live an expected 5 years, or go see Dr. Sugarbaker in Boston.

Heather's husband made the decision immediately, and the family moved to Boston to begin treatment with the head of the International Mesothelioma Program at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston. Dr. Sugarbaker performed surgery to remove Heather's left lung, the lining around her heart, half of her diaphragm, her sixth rib and a few lymph nodes. The cancer has not returned and Dr. Sugarbaker is calling Heather a shining example of the progress he is beginning to see in the fight against a disease that traditionally carried a maximum survival of 12 to 18 months.

"I claim cured," Heather says.

She underwent surgery on Feb. 2, 2006, was in the hospital for 18 days and stayed in Boston for a month. When Heather left Boston, she moved in with her parents for two months. In May, she returned home and began chemotherapy -- every three weeks for 12 weeks. Now, she returns to Boston every four months for a CT scan; so far, so good.

In 2006, Heather filed suit against her father's employers and asbestos manufacturers. The trial was set for September, but was suspended. Heather and her attorney filed an appeal and are waiting for the results. In the meantime, Heather has focused on caring for Lily and maintaining proper health.

"I'm going to be the first meso patient to live 50-plus years. I told my doctor he would retire before I did," Heather said. "And he's OK with that."

To read Heather's full story, click here.

A drug used to treat high cholesterol is now being administered to help fight tumors.  The treatment, lovastatin, is part of a new trial in which it stopped or eradicated tumors in 80% of patients.

Lovastatin was introduced in 1980 to fight lipids and lower cholesterol.  In early studies, researchers noticed a strange side effect: the drug killed cancer cells in laboratory trials.  In order to safely administer the drug, researchers have had to combine lovastatin with other treatment plans.  According to NeoPlas Innovation Director of Research Dr. Stephen Cantrell, "When we have administered a precisely timed regimen of low-dose interferon with lovastatin, tumors have begun regressing, sometimes within just a few weeks."

The lovastatin regimen is expected to fight a number of malignancies, including mesothelioma.  The drug's initial trial occurred in 2000; a patient who then had stage 4 melanoma remains disease-free today.

Unlike chemotherapy, lovastatin's most commonly reported side effect is fatigue.  Patients will not experience nausea, hair loss, vomiting, or immune system suppression.  For the full press release on lovastatin, click here.

For information on clinical trials and studies, visit the MesoRC page here.