Oct. 17, 2005 Researchers at New York University School of
Medicine and Wayne State University have found a molecule that
reveals the early stages of pleural mesothelioma, a chest cancer
caused by asbestos. The finding opens the way to a blood test
for the disease, according to a new study published in the Oct.
13 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine. An estimated
7.5 million workers in the United States have been exposed to
asbestos and, according to government statistics, it remains a
hazard to some 1.3 million workers in construction and building
maintenance. There has been no way to reliably screen for this
type of cancer, particularly in its early stages when treatment
may be more successful. The blood test could help to monitor
people at risk of developing cancer due to asbestos exposure,
says Harvey Pass, M.D., Chief of the Division of Thoracic
Surgery and Thoracic Oncology in the Department of
Cardiothoracic Surgery and Professor of Surgery at NYU School of
Medicine, and the lead author of the