Dr. Badrian will work with her supervisor, Steven Mutsaers, on the two-year study which hopes to use her previously documented research (Micro RNA as a Diagnostic & Therapeutical Tool in Malignant Mesothelioma) to identify a detectable RNA signature in case of malignant pleural mesothelioma, a form of lung cancer which typically lies dormant for up to five decades before producing symptoms definitive enough to permit diagnosis.
The funding for the research was provided by the Dust Diseases Board (DDB), and Dr. Badrian will work under the tutelage of Dr. Steven Mutsaers to see if she can find a more definitive test for mesothelioma which can be used during the initial stages of the disease. Mesothelioma is a form of cancer triggered by exposure to asbestos particles that attacks the protective linings, primarily around the lungs but also around the heart and abdominal organs.
Mutsaers, an Adjunct Associate Professor at LIWA who is also affiliated with UWA – and acts as secretary of the International Mesothelioma Interest Group, or IMIG – has published 10 scientific papers on the origin and nature of pulmonary fibroses and mesothelioma. He is also a recognized supervisor of undergraduate and postgraduate students working on their MSc and PhD degrees through UWA.
The Dust Diseases Board acts as the administration arm of the Worker’s Compensation Act, #1942-67, updated in 2010 and supervised by the government of New South Wales through the New South Wales Parliament under the jurisdiction of the Minister for Finance. As the administrator, the Board adjudicates claims for compensation for workers who have developed asbestos-related diseases like asbestosis and mesothelioma.
According to Dr. Badrian, Australia has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world, and the recent launch of its Mesothelioma Registry is aimed at reducing the number of cases by collecting information about the incidence of the disease among workers. The Registry will be managed by a consortium of organizations vested in mesothelioma research and treatment and headed by the Cancer Institute of New South Wales.
To counterbalance Australia’s 16 mesothelioma cases per million, the country is also one of the world’s most dynamic in terms of mesothelioma research, and recent medical discoveries coming out of the country suggest hope for earlier mesothelioma diagnoses and potentially even a cure.
Certainly the collaboration between Dr. Badrian of LIWA and the DDB portends such discoveries, particularly the identification of newer and more reliable biomarkers for mesothelioma in the form of miRNAs, which are small molecules that have shown importance in assessing other types of cancers. These miRNAs not only hold the promise of earlier identification of the disease, but the possibility of finding new therapeutic treatments at the molecular level.
