Editorial: Emerging Therapies for Malignant Mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of Editorial: Emerging Therapies for Malignant Mesothelioma, by N. van Zandwijk, G. Reid, P. Baas (Frontiers in Oncology, 2020).

The study

• Authors: N. van Zandwijk, G. Reid, P. Baas
• Journal: Frontiers in Oncology
• Published: 2020;10:939
• Type of article: Editorial
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher · Free full text

In plain English

This article was an editorial, not a research study, and it reported no new data. The three authors introduced a collection of 10 articles by researchers from around the world on emerging treatments for malignant mesothelioma, mainly malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM). Drawing on earlier published work, the authors described the background. Chemotherapy-based therapies, surgery and radiotherapy had dominated treatment research. Fewer than 10% of patients were judged eligible for radical multimodality therapy. Adding bevacizumab to pemetrexed/cisplatin gave a survival gain of only 3 months. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines had recently accepted pembrolizumab and nivolumab with or without ipilimumab as salvage therapy. The collection began with laboratory studies and went on to newer clinical approaches. It ended with two reviews of clinical trials in MPM, which stressed well-designed trials. The authors concluded that a one-size-fits-all therapy for MPM was very unlikely. They hoped that growing laboratory-to-clinic research data would eventually lead to better treatment outcomes. The editorial did not discuss asbestos exposure.

We wrote this plain-English summary from the full article with the help of AI, and a second AI model checked each sentence against the article. It is not the authors' wording; the abstract and the article are their own account.

What the study did and found

• Design: Editorial introducing a collection (Research Topic) of 10 articles; no original data
• Who was studied: No study population. The editorial introduces a series of 10 articles by researchers from around the world on malignant mesothelioma biology and treatment.
• Exposure: Not addressed. The editorial concerns treatments for malignant mesothelioma, not asbestos or other exposures.
• Main results:
  • Background from earlier published work, as described by the editors: chemotherapy-based therapies, surgery and radiotherapy dominated mesothelioma treatment research through the 1990s and 2000s.
  • Background from earlier published work, as described by the editors: fewer than 10% of patients are judged eligible for radical multimodality therapy.
  • Background from an earlier trial cited by the editors: adding bevacizumab to pemetrexed/cisplatin in MPM gave a survival gain of only 3 months.
  • The editors reported that NCCN guidelines had recently accepted pembrolizumab and nivolumab with or without ipilimumab as salvage therapy, following some positive second-line studies.
  • The collection begins with pre-clinical laboratory studies and then discusses new clinical approaches.
  • Two of the articles in the collection review the last two decades of clinical trials in MPM. According to the editors, both underline the importance of well-designed clinical trials.
  • The editors expressed hope that the increase in translational mesothelioma data will eventually translate into better treatment outcomes.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, considering past experience, a one-size-fits-all therapy for MPM patients is very unlikely to be discovered.

Topics

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelioma.

Related studies

• Emerging translational therapies for mesothelioma — H.I. Pass, B.W. Robinson, et al. (1999)
• Emerging therapies in malignant pleural mesothelioma — M. Cinausero, K. Rihawi, et al. (2019)
• Emerging biological therapies for the treatment of malignant pleural mesothelioma — A.P. Davis, S.C. Kao, et al. (2021)
• Primary Pulmonary NUT Carcinoma: A Case Illustration of Therapeutic Challenges and Review of Emerging Targeted Therapies — J.Y. Bae, X.Y. Gao, et al. (2026)
• From biology to therapy: current standards and emerging strategies in pleural mesothelioma — J.H.L.T. van Genugten, C.J. de Gooijer, et al. (2026)
• Chemotherapy options versus "novel" therapies: how should we treat patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma — M.J. Disselhorst, P. Baas (2020)

Browse more research in Frontiers in Oncology, or return to medical research.