Photodynamic therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma: the future of treatment?

Abstract

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a deadly incurable cancer, with a median survival of approximately 9 months. The best available chemotherapy, arguably the standard of care, only yields a 40% response rate and an 11-week extension in median survival. Surgery, the modality most likely to be associated with prolonged remission, remains investigational and must always be combined with other modalities in an effort to treat the microscopic disease that will remain even after the most aggressive operations. One such modality, photodynamic therapy, is a light-based cancer treatment that has features making it particularly well suited as a component of a surgery-based multimodal treatment plan. Utilizing intraoperative photodynamic therapy has enabled development of a less drastic surgical procedure that is also yielding some encouraging survival results. A unique aspect of photodynamic therapy is its stimulation of a tumor-directed immune response, a feature that offers promise for designing future treatments.

Keywords::

• autologous tumor vaccine
• extrapleural pneumonectomy
• immunotherapy
• laser
• malignant pleural mesothelioma
• photodynamic therapy
• photosensitizer
• radical pleurectomy

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the collaboration of Daniel Sterman and Steven Albelda and the provision of their gene therapy figure.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The author has no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Notes

MPM: Malignant pleural mesothelioma.