Video: Peter D. D’Angelo, Esq. of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C. answers the question, “is mesothelioma the same thing as lung cancer?” Continue reading
Though lung cancer and mesothelioma are typically confused, they are actually two distinct and different types of cancer. Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of your organs, either your heart, abdomen or lungs. Lung cancer, as the name implies, is a cancer of the tissue of your lungs.
Researchers may have discovered a dual use for an old drug. Sold under the name “Antabuse,” Disulfiram (dye sul’ fi ram) has been used to treat chronic alcoholism since the 1949, but it was not approved by the FDA until 1951. However, this unique medicine was the very first drug approved by the FDA to treat alcoholism.
Disulfiram works by producing extremely unpleasant side effects when the patient consumes alcohol. These effects include anxiety, blurred vision, chest pain, choking, difficulty breathing, flushing of the face, headache, mental confusion, nausea, sweating, vomiting, and weakness. A patient on Disulfiram will experience these effects within 10 minutes of consuming alcohol and they typically last for an hour or more. Continue reading
Researchers may have discovered a dual use for an old drug. Sold under the name Antabuse, Disulfiram (dye sul’ fi ram) has been used to treat chronic alcoholism since 1949, but it was not approved by the FDA until 1951. However, this unique medicine was the very first drug approved by the FDA to treat alcoholism.
Disulfiram works by producing extremely unpleasant side effects when the patient consumes alcohol. These effects include anxiety, blurred vision, chest pain, choking, difficulty breathing, flushing of the face, headache, mental confusion, nausea, sweating, vomiting, and weakness. A patient on Disulfiram will experience these effects within 10 minutes of consuming alcohol and they typically last for an hour or more.
While the drug is not a cure for alcoholism, the “psychological threat” of the side effects associated with it has discouraged thousands of former alcoholics from drinking. Currently, more than 200,000 patients take Antabuse for the treatment of chronic alcoholism, up from 50 patients in 1949. Now, researchers hope to have the same success with treating patients afflicted with malignant pleural mesothelioma.
A recent study, conducted by the doctors of Wayne State School of Medicine-Department of Oncology, Harbin Institute of Technology (Harbin, China), New York University Cancer Center, and Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, reported that Dithiocarbamate compound Disulfiram (DSF) that binds with copper (DSF-Cu) possesses anti-tumor chemosensitizing properties. In the study researchers investigated malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) suppressive effects of DSF-Cu and the molecular mechanisms involved. So far, the team has concluded that:
Intra-peritoneal administration of DSF-Cu suppressed growth of murine mesothelioma allografts in part by enhancing apoptosis. Our proof-of-concept studies reveal, for the first time, MPM inhibitory properties of DSF-Cu and are expected to facilitate utilization of this agent or its potent derivatives as potential adjuvant for treatment and perhaps chemoprevention of MPM.
Other studies have shown that Antabuse is also effective against colon, breast, and lung cancer cells.
Although further research is needed, the latest findings offer promise in the area of advancing mesothelioma treatment. To review the entire study, please visit PLOS One here.
Asbestos exposure is the only known cause of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Asbestos exposure occurs when someone encounters asbestos fibers in the workplace, at home, and in the environment. When inhaled, asbestos fibers can travel all the way to the pleura, the lining of the lung and chest wall, where, according to 100 Questions & Answers About Mesothelioma, the fibers may irritate and injure the cells.
This can lead to the development of calcium containing plate-like structures on the pleural lining (pleural plaques), fibrosis (scar tissue formation), or mesothelioma. These same fibers can also damage cells in the lung itself, which can lead to asbestosis (scar tissue in the lung).
Around 3,000 new cases of mesothelioma are diagnosed each year in the United States. Although cases in the U.S. have decreased slightly since the 1990s, the rate of mesothelioma is on the rise in many other countries where the mineral is still mined, processed, imported, exported, and used in manufacturing products. In the U.S., the EPA has placed firm restrictions on asbestos, but it is still not banned.
100 Questions & Answers About Mesothelioma, Second Edition
Harvey I. Pass, MD, NYU School of Medicine and Clinical Cancer Center
Agency for Toxic Substances & Disease Registry (ATSDR)
American Cancer Society
Encyclopedia.com, Medical Discoveries
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) U.S. Federal Bans on Asbestos
MedlinePlus, Disulfiram
National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM)
PLOS One, Open Access Journal
Cheriyan VT, Wang Y, Muthu M, Jamal S, Chen D, et al. (2014) Disulfiram Suppresses Growth of the Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Cells in Part by Inducing Apoptosis. PLoS ONE 9(4): e93711. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0093711.
Video: Peter D. D’Angelo, Esq. of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C. explains what mesothelioma is. Continue reading
Mesothelioma is a very rare type of cancer that forms typically on the lining of either your lungs, your heart, or your stomach. Mesothelioma is caused primarily by exposure to asbestos, typically in the workplace. There is a latency period from the date of exposure to when you actually develop the disease that makes diagnosis and sometimes identifying the source of exposure very difficult.
Video: Joseph P. Whyte, Esq. of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C. explains what involvement the client will need to have in their mesothelioma case. Continue reading
All you really have to do is answer some questions that we’ll have for you about your background or your loved one’s background whether that’s hobbies such as automotive repair or home remodeling work that may have exposed you to asbestos or what you did on the job. Once we learn what you did and where you did it, we can really take that information and compare it against the database we built up over the years. So we take the the onus off of you; you just have to tell us what you know and we can use that information to make it easy on you and get the responsible parties involved in the lawsuit.
New research shows that a new and unique approach to cancer immunotherapy may improve survival in patients with mesothelioma and ovarian cancer. Immunotherapy is used to stimulate the body’s immune system against cancer. For example, according to the Merck Manual Home Health Handbook, vaccines comprised of antigens derived from tumor cells can boost the body’s production of antibodies or immune cells (T lymphocytes). Extracts of weakened tuberculosis bacteria (which are known to boost the immune system) have been successful when introduced into the bladder to prevent bladder tumors. Continue reading
New research shows that a new and unique approach to cancer immunotherapy may improve survival in patients with mesothelioma and ovarian cancer. Immunotherapy is used to stimulate the body’s immune system against cancer. For example, according to the Merck Manual Home Health Handbook, vaccines comprised of antigens derived from tumor cells can boost the body’s production of antibodies or immune cells (T lymphocytes). Extracts of weakened tuberculosis bacteria (which are known to boost the immune system) have been successful when introduced into the bladder to prevent bladder tumors.
Now, a team of researchers with the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center report that “a protein engineered to combine a molecule targeting a tumor-cell-surface antigen with another protein that stimulates several immune functions, slowed tumor growth and prolonged survival in animal models of both tumors.” The team, which includes senior author of the report and Director of the MGH Vaccine and Immunotherapy Center Dr. Mark Poznansky, created a vaccine that stimulates a patient’s own dendritic cells, rather than utilizing the standard approach that requires “extracting a patient’s own immune cells, priming them with tumor antigens and returning them to the patient,” says Poznansky. Dr. Poznansky adds that the latter process is considered complicated and costly, and offers a poor prognosis.
The body’s dendritic cells are antigen presenting cells that, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), mediate several physiologic components of immunogenicity (the ability to produce an immune response) such as the acquisition of antigens in tissues, the migration to lymphoid organs, and the identification and activation of antigen-specific T cells.
According to the study, the MGH team’s approach begins with the engineered protein, which in this case fuses an antibody fragment targeting a protein called mesothelin — expressed on the surface of such tumors as mesothelioma, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer — to a protein from the tuberculosis bacteria that stimulates the activity of dendritic and other immune cells. In this system, the dendritic cells are activated and targeted against tumor cells while remaining inside the patient’s body.
The team concluded that the mesothelin-targeted fusion protein attaches to mesothelin on mesothelioma (or ovarian cancer) cells, then activates dendritic cells, and enhances the cells’ processing and presentation of several different tumor antigens, inducing a number of T-cell-based immune responses.
In animal studies including both types of tumors, treatment with the fusion protein slowed tumor growth and extended survival significantly. The team concluded that this is likely the result of the activity of cytotoxic CD8 T cells. Cytotoxic CD8 T cells monitor all the cells of the human body. They are equipped to destroy any others that express foreign antigen fragments in their class I molecules.
The MGH team notes that, like other types of immunotherapy, this innovative cancer vaccine is nontoxic, it may offer a better survival rate than other vaccines, it’s a lower cost approach to treating cancer, and it even has the potential to lower the risk of cancer recurrence. Researchers also believe that in the future this approach could ultimately be used to target any type of cancer.
Video: Joseph P. Whyte, Esq. of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C. explains the vast amount of asbestos cases the firm has handled and how they can help victims of asbestos exposure. Continue reading
We start the process just by meeting with you or your loved one to find out what they did for a living, where they did it, whether they had any other pursuits like automobile repair or home remodeling that might have exposed them to asbestos products. We then take that information and compare it to the database that we’ve built up over the twenty-five years that we’ve been helping people exposed to asbestos by looking at the trades: electricians, we’ve represented steel workers, we’ve represented automotive workers, we’ve represented drywall workers we’ve represented, people in all sorts of construction trades and we’ve represented them in numerous locations. Chances are that we’ve represented somebody who may have performed your same trade in your same location and by knowing what you did and where you did it, we usually already have a pretty good idea of the responsible parties.
Video: Joseph P. Whyte, Esq. of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C., explains the legal process for asbestos claims even if a person was exposed decades ago. Continue reading
Many of our clients are worried about the fact that they were exposed to asbestos thirty or forty years ago on the job and they wonder how they’re going to be able to remember what happened so long ago. Well, the fact is that we’ve represented people of just about every trade so if, for instance, you’re a pipefitter who worked in a particular location, chances are we’ve had a very similar case, if not almost exactly the same. We’ve also got a database of records of these companies going back almost thirty years for as long as we’ve been doing this litigation. So we will spend the time with you to make sure that you remember everything you possibly can.
Around 2,000-3,000 new mesothelioma cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. Of these cases, around 70 to 80 percent of the patients have been heavily exposed to asbestos and the vast majority of cases are in men over the age of 65. In fact, it is estimated that men are anywhere from 4 to 5 times more likely to develop mesothelioma than women. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), this is likely because men are more likely to have worked in jobs with heavy exposure to asbestos. Continue reading
Around 2,000-3,000 new mesothelioma cases are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. Of these cases, around 70 to 80 percent of the patients have been heavily exposed to asbestos and the vast majority of cases are in men over the age of 65. In fact, it is estimated that men are anywhere from 4 to 5 times more likely to develop mesothelioma than women. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), this is likely because men are more likely to have worked in jobs with heavy exposure to asbestos.
With statistics like these, people are often baffled when they hear that a woman or anyone in their 30s has been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Unfortunately, even though this condition is rarely found in women and the young, it can happen and it is usually the result of second-hand exposure. Such was the case for a Minnesota woman who discovered she had the disease at the age of 36.
Just three months after giving birth to her daughter, Heather Von St. James was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma, rare form of cancer that affects the lining of the lung and chest wall (pleura). Pleural mesothelioma may also spread into the pericardium (the sheet of tissue covering the heart), which is very close to the pleura. Naturally, the diagnosis stunned the Roseville, Minnesota mom who didn’t know much about asbestos or mesothelioma. Soon, however, Von St. James discovered where she had been exposed to asbestos and it wasn’t in the workplace.
Von St. James grew up in South Dakota as the daughter of a construction worker. In a news story featured on ABC 5 Eyewitness News, KSTP (Minneapolis/St. Paul) Von St. James says she used to wear her father’s coat when he came home from work because, she says, “it felt good to me and it was something I loved to do.” Her father often worked on demolition and clean up jobs which left his clothes, shoes, and car covered in gray, crusty asbestos dust. It was this second-hand asbestos dust that gave Von St. James cancer.
In her mid-30s, Von St. James felt a weight that she described as “a truck parked”on her chest. She couldn’t breathe. After being diagnosed with mesothelioma, Von St. James underwent an extrapleural pneumonectomy to remove her left lung. Today, Von St. James is an eight-year mesothelioma survivor and she shares her story to help raise awareness about the disease and the dangers of asbestos.
Although asbestos is heavily regulated in the U.S. and banned in 44 countries, the manufacture, importation, processing and distribution of the following products is still legal:
For more information about asbestos regulations in the U.S., visit the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) at 2.epa.gov/asbestos/us-federal-bans-asbestos.
ABC 5 Eyewitness News, KSTP-Minneapolis/St. Paul
American Cancer Society
American Lung Association
Asbestos Cement Products Manufacturers Association (ACPMA), New Delhi
Cancer Research UK
United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
University of California San Francisco, Department of Thoracic Surgery
Video: Joseph P. Whyte, Esq. of Goldenberg Heller & Antognoli, P.C. explains what a deposition is. Continue reading
A deposition is an opportunity for the lawyers for the defendant asbestos companies to ask you questions in person that you answer under oath. It is a formal legal proceeding but we spend the time with you to get you ready for this process. Also, one thing you need to remember is that all you have to do is tell the truth as best you know it. They’ll use this to evaluate your case to determine how much it’s worth and which companies we can prove a case against.
Video: Joseph P. Whyte, Esq. explains what happens when a person who was exposed to asbestos during service in the United State military wants to sue. Continue reading
Many of our clients served our country in the United States military, particularly sailors on navy ships, and are understandably not anxious to sue the United States government. Well, we don’t sue the government. In fact, we can’t. We go after the companies that supplied the asbestos-containing materials to the navy.
