Mesothelioma articles from across Nature Portfolio

Although immune checkpoint blockade is a standard treatment for patients with malignant mesothelioma, only a minority of patients exhibit radiological response. In a phase II clinical trial (MIST4) investigating the efficacy, safety and molecular correlates of response following treatment with atezolizumab and bevacizumab, the authors demonstrate that the gut microbiota may modulate responsiveness to treatment.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells are effective for the treatment of therapy-resistant blood cancers but not solid tumors. We used a well-studied mutant c-KIT protein (c-KIT D816V) as a co-stimulatory domain to generate CAR T cells with strong IFNγ signaling that were able to overcome the immunosuppressive microenvironment of solid tumors.

We introduce molecular and cellular criteria — based on morphology, ploidy, CpG island methylation and immune infiltration — that improve the characterization of malignant pleural mesothelioma. These criteria reveal adaptation strategies that are adopted by tumor cells and offer new possibilities for classification and clinical management.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a challenging disease with few approved treatments. Rapidly expanding insights into the pathogenesis of this cancer and clinical trials are now suggesting a variety of targeted and immune-oncology agents with the potential to address unmet clinical needs.