Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Jun;10(3):275-88.
doi: 10.1177/1753465816628800. Epub 2016 Feb 12.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma: an update on diagnosis and treatment options

Sanjana Kondola  1 , David Manners  2 , Anna K Nowak  3
Affiliations
Review

Malignant pleural mesothelioma: an update on diagnosis and treatment options

Sanjana Kondola et al. Ther Adv Respir Dis. 2016 Jun.

Abstract

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) represents a significant diagnostic and therapeutic challenge and is almost always a fatal disease. Imaging abnormalities are common, but have a limited role in distinguishing mesothelioma from metastatic pleural disease. Similarly, minimally invasive biomarkers have shown promise but also have limitations in the diagnosis of mesothelioma. In experienced centers, cytology and immunohistochemistry are now sufficient to diagnose the epithelioid subtype of mesothelioma, which can reduce the need for more invasive diagnostic investigations. Prognosis of MPM is modestly impacted by oncological treatments. Chemotherapy with cisplatin and pemetrexed is considered the standard of care, though the addition of bevacizumab to the platinum doublet may be the new standard of care. New targeted therapies have demonstrated some promise and are being addressed in clinical trials. This review focuses on the current data on the diagnostic and therapeutic issues of MPM.

Keywords: angiogenesis; chemotherapy; clinical trials; diagnosis; immunotherapy; mesothelioma; symptom management.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Pleural fluid cytology examination from a patient with malignant mesothelioma. There are malignant cells seen on Papanicolaou stain (a) that are negative for the adenocarcinoma immunohistochemical stain MOC-31 (b) but positive for mesothelioma immunohistochemical stain Calretinin (c).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Adusumilli P., Cherkassky L., Villena-Vargas J., Colovos C., Servais E., Plotkin J., et al. (2014) Regional delivery of mesothelin-targeted CAR T cell therapy generates potent and long-lasting CD4-dependent tumor immunity. Sci Transl Med 6: 261ra151. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ahamad A., Stevens C., Smythe W., Vaporciyan A., Komaki R., Kelly J., et al. (2003) Intensity-modulated radiation therapy: a novel approach to the management of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 55: 768–775. - PubMed
    1. Ak G., Tomaszek S., Kosari F., Metintas M., Jett J., Metintas S., et al. (2015) MicroRNA and mRNA features of malignant pleural mesothelioma and benign asbestos-related pleural effusion. Biomed Res Int 2015: 635748. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Alley E., Molife R., Satoro A., Beckey K., Yuan S., Cheng J., et al. (2015) Clinical safety and efficacy of pembrolizumab (MK-3475) in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma: preliminary results from KEYNOTE-028. Cancer Res 75: abstract CT103.
    1. Benjamin H., Lebanony D., Rosenwald S., Cohen L., Gibori H., Barabash N., et al. (2010) A diagnostic assay based on microRNA expression accurately identifies malignant pleural mesothelioma. J Mol Diagn 12: 771–779. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms