New clinical trial drug helps to slow grandad's mesothelioma

RESEARCHERS have said the discovery that a drug can control the growth of mesothelioma could provide "enormous hope" for patients.

- BEN MITCHELL

A clinical trial run by the University of Leicester and the Cancer Research UK Southampton Clinical Trials Unit tested a class of drug known as PARP inhibitors.

A patient from Dorset is among those taking part in the trial.

The drugs work by blocking the repair of damaged DNA in cancer cells, causing the cancer cells to die and have previously been shown to improve the survival rate of patients with some types of breathing and ovarian cancers.

But now the results of the Nero clinical trial, which have been presented at the American Association of Cancer Research conference, have been shown to delay the worsening of mesothelioma for patients whose other treatment had stopped working.

Mesothelioma is an aggressive cancer that forms in the lining of the lungs or abdomen and is linked to breathing in or ingesting dangerous asbestos fibres.

Swindon has historically suffered a lot of cases due to people working in the historic railway works.