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Vol.49 No.4 contents

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- Review Article -

Soluble Mesothelin-related Peptides (SMRP) as a Biomarker for Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Tomonori Hirashima¹, Kazuya Fukuoka², Toyoaki Hida³, Kunimitsu Kawahara⁴, Takumi Kishimoto⁵, Akihide Matsumura⁶, Kikuo Nakano⁷, Morihito Okada⁸, Takashi Nakano^2
1Department of Medical Oncology, Osaka Prefectural Medical Center for Respiratory and Allergic Diseases, Japan, ²Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan, ³Department of Thoracic Oncology, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, Japan, ⁴Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Osaka Prefectural Medical Center for Respiratory and Allergic Diseases, Japan, ⁵Department of Asbestos Block Center, Okayama Rosai Hospital, Japan, ⁶Department of Thoracic Surgery, Kinki-chuo Medical Center, Japan, ⁷Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kure Medical Center, Japan, ⁸Department of Surgical Oncology, Research Institute for Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Hiroshima University, Japan

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Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a highly aggressive, incurable neoplasm associated with asbestos exposure. It is estimated that the incidence of this disease will continue to increase until at least the year 2030 in Japan. There is some evidence that patients with MPM respond better to treatment if it is delivered early in the disease. A few MPM biomarkers have been reported, but until recently, no reliable serum marker to help the diagnosis of MPM or to predict response to treatment or prognosis, had been identified. Therefore, we performed a prospective, multicenter study to evaluate the significance of soluble mesothelin-related peptides (SMRP) as a biomarker for diagnosis of MPM. In this paper, we review the key advances in the understanding, treatment, and a biomarker for the diagnosis of MPM. Furthermore, we report some results of a prospective, multicenter study.
key words: Malignant pleural mesothelioma, Mesothelin, Soluble mesothelin-related peptides, Biomarker

JJLC 49 (4): 380-385, 2009