Onsite Research Projects at the Pacific Meso Center

SPHEROIDS

Scientists at the Pacific Meso Center are developing novel methods for creating and studying mesothelioma tumors outside of the human body. This will allow them to more efficiently and more accurately test the effectiveness of promising new treatments. By combining human mesothelioma cells, connective tissue (stroma), and immune cells in culture dishes, our scientists have successfully created small, nodule-like structures called “spheroids.” These spheroids appear nearly identical to the mesothelioma nodules that are usually located on the lining of the chest cavity in patients with this cancer. Many potential therapies, including immunotherapies, are so complex that they cannot be properly evaluated unless they can be tested fewer than in hundreds of different conditions. However, this is not feasible in standard laboratory research. With the Pacific Meso Center tumor spheroid model of human mesothelioma, our researchers -- Dr. Raymond Wong and Dr. Irina Ianculescu -- can test promising therapies for mesothelioma and produce viable experimental results. This process ultimately may speed up the translation of basic research in our lab into clinical trials to evaluate candidate drugs for mesothelioma patients.

MESENCHYMAL STEM CELLS AND IMMUNOTHERAPY

In 2013 the Pacific Meso Center was awarded a $100,000 donation from the Law Office of Worthington and Caron PC for startup funding for the Center's Mesenchymal Stem Cell Program. This goal of this Program is to develop innovative treatments for malignant pleural mesothelioma and possibly other cancers, including lung carcinoma. Mesenchymal stem cells are found in various tissues, and the FDA has already deemed them safe in therapies for inflammatory autoimmune diseases. Mesenchymal stem cells from the placenta are especially promising for cancer treatments because the human body does not reject cells from the placenta as foreign tissues. Our Program will use mesenchymal stem cells harvested only from discarded human placentas because these cells are universally compatible with patients undergoing cancer therapy. In addition, mesenchymal stem cells can be genetically modified to not only seek out cancer cells, but also to act as effective vehicles for delivering therapeutic proteins to targeted cancer sites.

EARLY BREATH DETECTION TEST/WHOLE-GENOME SEQUENCING

In 2013 the Pacific Meso Center initiated a mesothelioma screening and prevention program, in collaboration with Dr. Michael Phillips from Menssana Research in New Jersey, to test and characterize a second-generation breath test. This joint project has as its objective the correlating of the characteristics (such as exhaled volatile organic compounds) of the mesothelioma breath profile with whole-genome sequencing of mesothelioma cells. Breath tests comprise an emerging important area of cancer research, and Menssana Research is a global leader in the development of advanced breath tests. This project, when fully funded, will recruit 50 patients with mesothelioma, 50 people exposed to asbestos but without mesothelioma, and 50 healthy individuals (controls), and then compare breath test outcomes in all three groups. This cutting-edge clinical trial holds significant implications for early screening of mesothelioma and certain other cancers.