Belli Carmen, Anand Santosh, Tassi Gianfranco, Fennell Dean, Mutti Luciano
Oncology Department, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milan, Italy.
Expert Rev Respir Med. 2010 Apr;4(2):249-60. doi: 10.1586/ers.10.17.
Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a highly invasive tumor arising from the mesothelial cells of serosal surfaces. Several chemotherapeutic agents have been tested for the treatment of this disease and doublet cisplatin with antifolates has been demonstrated to have significant efficacy in Phase III studies. However, the benefit of these treatments remains poor and the median survival time of patients is low, ranging between 9 and 17 months. Targeted therapies are being developed in oncology and emerging evidence suggests that they offer disease control in several tumors. This article reviews the knowledge on the malignant pleural mesothelioma molecular pathway and focuses on results of clinical trials conducted on this devastating disease.
恶性胸膜间皮瘤是一种起源于浆膜表面间皮细胞的高度侵袭性肿瘤。已经对几种化疗药物进行了治疗该疾病的测试，并且在III期研究中已证明顺铂与抗叶酸药物联合使用具有显著疗效。然而，这些治疗的益处仍然有限，患者的中位生存时间较短，在9至17个月之间。肿瘤学领域正在开发靶向治疗方法，新出现的证据表明它们在几种肿瘤中可实现疾病控制。本文综述了关于恶性胸膜间皮瘤分子途径的知识，并重点关注针对这种毁灭性疾病进行的临床试验结果。
