A new drug held back mesothelioma in most patients

An experimental drug controlled disease progression in 67 percent of patients with relapsed mesothelioma during a phase one clinical trial, according to research published in Nature Communications this week. Mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer usually linked to asbestos exposure, kills most patients within about a year, and treatment options remain thin. The drug, called RSO-021, comes out of work begun at the University of Vermont Cancer Center around 2015. It uses thiostrepton, a naturally occurring antibiotic, to disable an enzyme that tumor cells rely on to survive their own stressful chemistry. Without it, oxidative damage builds until the cancer cells die. Delivered through a chest catheter many patients already have, the drug was generally well tolerated, and the critically ill trial participants lived longer than those on standard care. Researcher Victoria Gibson said she was moved when a stranger contacted the lab hoping to enroll a dying father. "We just work in a lab all day working with cells," she said.