Staphylococcus aureus bio-products: new biological roles for a pleurodesis agent

Our plain-English summary of Staphylococcus aureus bio-products: new biological roles for a pleurodesis agent, by I. Psallidas, G.T. Stathopoulos (Respirology, 2014).

The study

• Authors: I. Psallidas, G.T. Stathopoulos
• Journal: Respirology
• Published: 2014;19(7):948-9
• Type of article: Editorial, Comment
• Cited by: 2 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

In plain English

This article was an editorial, not an original study. The authors commented on a separate study by Lansley and co-workers, published in the same issue of Respirology. That study tested a commercially available preparation of Staphylococcus aureus bio-products, an agent already used for pleurodesis (sealing the pleural space) in malignant pleural effusion. The editorial noted that malignant pleural mesothelioma is associated with previous asbestos exposure, but it reported no asbestos exposure data. According to the editorial, Lansley and co-workers found that in Balb/c mice with flank tumours the bio-product inhibited tumour growth (P < 0.001, growth retardation of more than 50%) with no associated toxicity. It also reduced tumour burden in a mouse peritoneal mesothelioma model, increased tumour necrosis and CD4+ and CD8+ cell activation, and killed human mesothelioma cell lines in a dose-dependent way but not benign mesothelial cells. The editorial noted that an earlier human study of the agent was small (14 patients). The authors concluded that immune modulation may present a viable mesothelioma treatment option worth testing in future clinical 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: Editorial commenting on a separate laboratory and animal study (Lansley et al.)
• Who was studied: No study population of its own. The editorial discussed a study by Lansley and co-workers in mesothelioma cell lines and in mouse models of mesothelioma.
• Exposure: A commercially available Staphylococcus aureus bio-product (enterotoxin C, other proteins and 18 amino acids), used as a pleurodesis agent. Asbestos appears only as background: the editorial notes it is associated with malignant pleural mesothelioma.
• Main results:
  • As reported from Lansley et al.: in a flank model in Balb/c mice, the bio-product inhibited tumour growth (P < 0.001, tumour growth retardation by more than 50%), with no associated toxicity for the mice.
  • As reported from Lansley et al.: the bio-product reduced tumour burden in an orthotopic peritoneal mesothelioma model in mice.
  • As reported from Lansley et al.: necrosis was increased in mesothelioma tumours, and activation of CD4+ and CD8+ cells was significantly induced in treated animals.
  • As reported from Lansley et al.: the agent caused dose-dependent cytotoxicity in human mesothelioma cell lines but not in benign mesothelial cells. The editorial also mentions two of four mouse mesothelioma cell lines, and the effect appeared to work through the apoptotic pathway.
  • As reported from an earlier single clinical study (reference 7), not this editorial's own finding: in patients with poor performance status and malignant pleural effusion, the S. aureus bio-product induced resolution of the effusion in approximately 80% of patients.
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that, together with other recent work, the evidence suggests immune modulation may present a viable treatment option for mesothelioma that is worth investigating in future clinical studies.
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors state that fundamental questions on the role and safety of biological therapies in mesothelioma and malignant pleural effusion still need to be answered.
  • The authors note that the earlier human study of the agent had a small population (14 patients).

Topics

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

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

Related studies

• A commercially available preparation of Staphylococcus aureus bio-products potently inhibits tumour growth in a murine model of mesothelioma — S.M. Lansley, J.F. Varano Della Vergiliana, et al. (2014)
• Influence of possible disinfectant transfer on Staphylococcus aureus plate counts after agar contact sampling — B. Brummer (1976)
• Iodopovidone as a pleurodesis agent: setting standards for clinical pleural research — A.H. Diacon (2010)
• The role of inflammasome-derived IL-1 in driving IL-17 responses — K.H. Mills, L.S. Dungan, et al. (2013)
• Evaluation of ALS assay of TB-SA for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis — J. Jiao, M.S. Wang, et al. (2015)
• INTEROCC case-control study: lack of association between glioma tumors and occupational exposure to selected combustion products, dusts and other chemical agents — A. Lacourt, E. Cardis, et al. (2013)

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