PINEHURST – The FirstHealth of the Carolinas Clinical Trials Department has partnered with the Wake Forest School of Medicine to promote participation in a research study investigating the development and progression of asbestos-related lung diseases and cancers. 

“The FirstHealth Clinical Trials staff is excited about this opportunity to assist one of our state’s medical research institutions further the knowledge about this deadly disease and the factors that cause it,” says Chris Miller, director of clinical trials at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital. “Working together is part of our mission at FirstHealth, and this opportunity is a perfect example of trying to fulfill that mission.”

Asbestos fibers were commonly used in construction before 1975, and asbestos exposure occurred in asbestos mining and milling industries, construction, fireproofing and other industries. In families of asbestos workers, exposure can also occur from particles brought home on the worker’s clothing.   

Asbestos-related lung disease can take several forms, including asbestosis and pleural plaque (two forms of lung scarring), lung cancer and mesothelioma. Lung scarring is progressive in about one-third of asbestos-exposed workers. Lung cancer is five times more common in asbestos-exposed individuals and 100 times more common in smoking, asbestos-exposed individuals than it is in the non-smoking, non-asbestos-exposed population.

The severity of the disease depends on how long the person was exposed to asbestos and the amount that was inhaled. Often, symptoms and lung fibrosis do not occur and are not noticed for 20 years or more after the exposure.

Dr. Jill Ohar of Wake Forest University, the study’s principal investigator, has been researching the disease and the factors that cause it for more than 20 years. “Families have been devastated by this disease, but what is surprising is that despite the strong association of asbestos exposure to mesothelioma, only a small number of people exposed to asbestos actually develop mesothelioma,” she says. “Over years of research, we have determined that there is a strong tendency for mesothelioma to run in families and it tends to be associated with a family history of cancer, which suggests a genetic susceptibility.”

There is no way to predict if an individual diagnosed with asbestosis will actually develop mesothelioma, a rare cancer found in the lining of the lungs or abdomen.  About 40 percent of patients are surviving one year after diagnosis while only about 10 percent are surviving at three years after diagnosis.

The current study examines the associated environmental factors and genetic markers of people diagnosed with mesothelioma, basically identifying how frequently encountered environmental pollutants affect the body and determining the genetic factors that make some families more susceptible than others to mesothelioma and other forms of cancer.

Interested?

The mesothelioma study requires the collection of one ounce of blood from the participant and completion of a two-page survey, both to be conducted at FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital’s Chest Center of the Carolinas. If you (or a friend or a family member) have been diagnosed with mesothelioma and are interested in participating or have questions, please call FirstHealth Clinical Trials at (910) 715-2200 or the principal investigator, Dr. Jill Ohar, at (866) 487-2344 or (336) 716-8426.