Mesothelin and osteopontin

Our plain-English summary of Mesothelin and osteopontin, by I. Pantazopoulos, T. Xanthos, P. Boura, et al (The European Respiratory Journal, 2013).

The study

• Authors: I. Pantazopoulos, T. Xanthos, P. Boura, K. Syrigos
• Journal: The European Respiratory Journal
• Published: 2013;42(2):557-8
• Type of article: Letter, Comment
• Cited by: 3 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This item is correspondence and reports no new data. It contains a letter by Gunnar Hillerdal about a review of the markers mesothelin and osteopontin in malignant mesothelioma, and the review authors' reply. The letter writer agreed mesothelin can aid diagnosis and monitoring for recurrence. The letter argued that a benefit of resection is far from proven, citing the randomised MARS study as showing resection considerably shortened survival. It said screening risk groups for mesothelioma is not indicated at present. In reply, the review authors cited a preliminary international (IASLC) registry analysis of patients with all stages of epithelial malignant pleural mesothelioma, which reported a 19-month median survival among 1359 patients undergoing surgical resection, and a median of 40 months for the subgroup having extrapleural pneumonectomy for early-stage disease. They said MARS had strong biases making any conclusion impossible, and that the markers have limited sensitivity for early-stage disease. They said the markers' near-term use is most probably monitoring response to therapy. The review authors concluded that some long-term survivors clearly benefit from surgery, and called for well-designed randomised studies.

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: Correspondence: a letter to the editor by Gunnar Hillerdal commenting on a published review, followed by a reply from the review's authors (Pantazopoulos et al.); no original data
• Who was studied: No study population; the letters discuss published research on patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma
• Exposure: No exposure was studied; the subject was the markers mesothelin (in serum or pleura) and osteopontin, and surgery for mesothelioma
• Main results:
  • The letter writer agreed with the review that mesothelin can be used for monitoring patients for recurrence
  • The letter writer argued that a benefit of resection is far from proven
  • The letter writer described the MARS randomised study as showing that resection shortened survival
  • The letter writer stated that screening for mesothelioma in risk groups is not indicated at present
  • The reply cited a preliminary IASLC registry analysis (not this article's own data) of patients with all stages of epithelial malignant pleural mesothelioma, reporting a 19-month median survival among 1359 patients undergoing surgical resection
  • The reply cited the same analysis as reporting a median survival of 40 months for the subgroup undergoing extrapleural pneumonectomy for early-stage disease
  • The review authors said the MARS I trial was characterised by strong biases that make drawing any conclusion from it impossible
  • The review authors said mesothelin family proteins and osteopontin have limited sensitivity for identifying early-stage disease
  • The review authors said the markers' clinical use in the near future is most probably in monitoring response to therapy rather than in risk assessment for asbestos-exposed populations
  • The review authors called for well-designed randomised studies
• The authors' conclusion: The review authors concluded that mesothelioma is a heterogeneous disease and that some long-term survivors clearly benefit from surgery

Topics

The National Library of Medicine indexes this study under subjects our site covers: Mesothelioma.

Medical terms in this study, explained in our Lexicon: Mesothelin, Osteopontin.

Related studies

• Effectiveness of mesothelin family proteins and osteopontin for malignant mesothelioma — I. Pantazopoulos, P. Boura, et al. (2013)
• Combined serum mesothelin and plasma osteopontin measurements in malignant pleural mesothelioma — A. Cristaudo, A. Bonotti, et al. (2011)
• Plasma versus serum levels of osteopontin and mesothelin in patients with malignant mesothelioma--which is best? — J. Creaney, D. Yeoman, et al. (2011)
• Changes of mesothelin and osteopontin levels over time in formerly asbestos-exposed power industry workers — M.K. Felten, K. Khatab, et al. (2014)
• Mesothelin and osteopontin — G. Hillerdal (2013)
• Soluble mesothelin, megakaryocyte potentiating factor, and osteopontin as markers of patient response and outcome in mesothelioma — K. Hollevoet, K. Nackaerts, et al. (2011)

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