Expert testimony involving genetic findings is more and more common in asbestos litigation. Recent studies published in the peer-reviewed scientific literature have evaluated a variety of genetic factors (e.g., inherited genetic mutations, micro-RNA, gene expression profiles, and epigenetic factors) in people with and without asbestos exposure. Investigators have found evidence to support the fact that […]
Mechanistic understanding of cancers continues to accelerate, with important implications for tort litigation. A recent new study by He et al. (2019) provides new insights into how and why germline BAP1 mutations are involved in the development of some cancers, such as mesothelioma, but not others. The new insights are about tissue specific actions of […]
An important feature that has emerged from this new genomic knowledge is known as “signature mutations.” In short, specific exposures cause specific patterns of mutations to occur in tumors. These mutation patterns within the cancer tissue therefore serve as a clear marker for that specific exposure (hence the term “signature mutation”).
We work with genomics every day, but sometimes it’s difficult to convey the scale and pace of the gathering and analysis of genomic data. That said, graphics can help, as shown below. The graphic clearly shows the decline in cost and the associated consumer adoption of genetic techniques in the near future. The publisher of […]
Our post yesterday explained work in progress to create a national mesothelioma patient registry. That development should be viewed in the broader context of rare disease registries in general. On that topic, an open access article is Lacaze P, et al, Rare disease registries: a call to action. Intern Med J. 2017 Sep;47(9):1075-1079. The article […]
At long last, plans are moving forward to establish a national mesothelioma patient registry in the United States. A key meeting of experts planning the registry will be held on Tuesday March 26, 2019 in Bethesda. The meeting will include panel presentations by mesothelioma experts from CDC and NIOSH, and will include a substantial opportunity for […]
A recently published article authored by Drs. Michele Carbone, Haining Yang, and Harvey Pass (among others) is relevant to asbestos and talc defendants because it provides additional data supporting the conclusion that inherited genetic variations cause mesothelioma in some persons without any known exposure to asbestos. Most notably for asbestos and talc litigants, 57 out […]
The use of genomic evidence in cancer cases is now commonplace, including both talc and traditional asbestos cases. However, the list of relevant genes goes far beyond BAP1 or any other single gene mutation. On Tuesday, October 30, 2018, ToxicoGenomica offered a complimentary webinar educating defense attorneys on the use of genomics in toxic tort […]
A new paper by Kharazmi and colleagues present important data regarding the heritable nature of mesothelioma using epidemiological techniques to analyze the population-based Swedish Cancer Registry. The results, reported in the European Journal of Cancer, are important because the findings confirm that both genes and exposures are relevant, and on their face, appear helpful to […]
This is our second comment on a very recent paper (Panou 2018) reporting findings from a study looking for germline (inherited) variants (mutations) in persons afflicted by mesotheliomas. The paper reported results from a custom gene panel analysis of 195 genes associated with cancers to study a cohort of 198 persons, mainly persons who were […]