A specific protein family known as serum mesothelin could help to effect earlier diagnoses for mesothelioma patients, says a new study produced by Australian cancer researchers. The proteins, demonstrates the study, are present in higher concentrations than normal in many mesothelioma patients. While the conclusions thus far don’t point to any immediately usable screening standard, the research could contribute to developing an effective screen for the disease in the future.
Mesothelioma is an aggressive and terminal cancer which has been conclusively linked to asbestos exposure. The disease can take as much as twenty to fifty years to develop after exposure to the dangerous substance, which seriously complicates and delays diagnosis leading to limited treatment options. Researchers have been looking for better ways to diagnose the disease for decades, but so far no one discovery has proven groundbreaking.
While modern asbestos exposure in the United States is somewhat under control, millions of individuals were exposed to the deadly mineral throughout the twentieth century owing to unscrupulous industrial employers. Mesothelioma’s long latency period, or the amount of time it takes to present after exposure to asbestos, means that diagnoses continue to rise annually even while exposure is diminishing. Mesothelioma claims some 3,000 American lives each year and around 90,000 worldwide. Some researchers estimate that to date nearly 10 million have died of the disease.
The Australian researchers worked to uncover the relevance of serum mesothelin by measuring its persistence and changes in concentration among several individuals who had been exposed to asbestos. The concentrations of the protein were measured over time and any fluctuations were recorded. The study stated that of those exposed to asbestos who later developed mesothelioma, about 15% were recorded with drastically higher serum mesothelin levels than normal. At the time of those patients’ diagnoses, some 40% of the individuals in the study underwent similar rises of serum mesothelin whether or not they went on to develop mesothelioma.
While the serum mesothelin study does not point to an immediately usable new method of diagnosis, it increases the medical community’s understanding of the body’s relationship with and reaction to asbestos contamination and mesothelioma development. This study and others like it could contribute to more effective screens for the disease in the future.



