The role of key genes and pathways involved in the tumorigenesis of Malignant Mesothelioma

Our plain-English summary of The role of key genes and pathways involved in the tumorigenesis of Malignant Mesothelioma, by L.V. de Assis, J. Locatelli, M.C. Isoldi (Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 2014).

The study

• Authors: L.V. de Assis, J. Locatelli, M.C. Isoldi
• Journal: Biochimica et Biophysica Acta
• Published: 2014;1845(2):232-47
• Cited by: 47 articles, as counted by NIH iCite
• Read it: PubMed · Publisher

Abstract

Malignant Mesothelioma (MM) is a very aggressive cancer with low survival rates and often diagnosed at an advanced stage. Several players have been implicated in the development of this cancer, such as asbestos, erionite and the simian virus 40 (SV40). Here, we have reviewed the involvement of erionite, SV40, as well as, the role of several genes (p16(INK4a), p14(ARF), NF2, LATS2, SAV, CTNNB1 and among others), the pathways (RAS, PI3K, Wnt, BCL and Hippo), and their respective roles in the development of MM.

Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In plain English

This article is a narrative review, not a new study. The authors summarized published research on how malignant mesothelioma develops at the genetic and molecular level. They noted that asbestos, erionite and simian virus 40 (SV40) have been implicated, and said they had covered asbestos in an earlier review. Citing other studies, they described erionite, a fibrous mineral first studied in villages in Turkey, as several times more carcinogenic than crocidolite asbestos in causing mesothelioma. They reported that findings on SV40 in human tumors are contradictory. They also reported that in one hamster study asbestos alone caused mesothelioma in 20% of animals and asbestos plus SV40 in 90%. Among genes, they described loss of p16INK4a and p14ARF as the most common event in mesothelioma, NF2 inactivation at reported rates of 20% to 60%, and inherited BAP1 mutations that increase susceptibility. They also reviewed several signaling pathways. The authors concluded that several genes and pathways are involved and that more studies are needed to understand, prevent, diagnose and treat the disease.

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: Narrative review of published literature on genes and pathways in malignant mesothelioma
• Who was studied: No study population of its own; the authors reviewed published studies on malignant mesothelioma (MM)
• Exposure: Agents implicated in mesothelioma: erionite and SV40 are reviewed here. The authors state they reviewed asbestos in an earlier paper.
• Main results:
  • Citing other studies, the authors described erionite as several times more carcinogenic than crocidolite asbestos in causing mesothelioma
  • The link between erionite and mesothelioma was first studied in some villages in Turkey (cited studies)
  • The authors reported that published findings on SV40 in human mesothelioma are contradictory and controversial
  • In a cited hamster study, SV40 alone did not cause mesothelioma, and asbestos exposure alone caused mesothelioma in 20% of animals
  • In the same cited hamster study, asbestos and SV40 together caused mesothelioma in 90% of animals
  • The authors described loss of the p16INK4a/p14ARF genes as the most common event in mesothelioma
  • Citing other work, the authors reported that NF2 inactivation is frequent in mesothelioma, at rates from 20% to 60%
  • Citing other work, the authors reported that germline (inherited) BAP1 mutation increases susceptibility to mesothelioma and other tumors
• The authors' conclusion: The authors concluded that several genes and pathways are involved in the development of mesothelioma and that more studies are needed to understand, prevent, diagnose and treat it
• Limitations the authors state:
  • The authors note that the studies compiled in their tables used methods with differing sensitivity and specificity and differing definitions of mutations

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: Carcinogenesis, Mesothelioma, erionite, SV40.

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