# Mesothelin: a new target for immunotherapy

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-mesothelin-mesothelioma-clin-cancer-res-2004/  
OnCo record `paper-mesothelin-mesothelioma-clin-cancer-res-2004` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Review on Mesothelin in Mesothelioma, in Clinical Cancer Research (2004), one of the most cited Europe PMC records with Mesothelin in its title.

## Summary

Mesothelin is a differentiation antigen present on normal mesothelial cells and overexpressed in several human tumors, including mesothelioma and ovarian and pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The mesothelin gene encodes a precursor protein that is processed to yield the 40-kDa protein, mesothelin, attached to the cell membrane by a glycosylphosphatidyl inositol linkage and a 31-kDa shed fragment named megakaryocyte-potentiating factor. The biological function of mesothelin is not known. Mesothelin is a promising candidate for tumor-specific therapy, given its limited expression in normal tissues and high expression in several cancers. SS1(dsFv)PE38 is a recombinant anti-mesothelin immunotoxin that is undergoing clinical evaluation in patients with mesothelin-expressing tumors. There is evidence that mesothelin is an immunogenic protein and could be exploited as a therapeutic cancer vaccine. A soluble mesothelin variant has been identified and could be a useful tumor marker for malignant mesotheliomas.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 15217923 (DOI 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-03-0801). Its title names Mesothelin and its text names Mesothelioma; PubMed types it as a review (Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Review). It was matched automatically to the idea "Treat the body cavity, not the bloodstream, for surface spread" and no figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: Clinical Cancer Research
- Year: 2004
- DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-03-0801
- Authors: Hassan R, Bera T, Pastan I
- What it means: One of the most cited reviews Europe PMC returns for Mesothelin in Mesothelioma, so it is a natural first reading for anyone weighing the idea it is linked from. The record was linked automatically by title and abstract; read the abstract above and the paper itself before relying on any figure.
- Caveats: Matched by Mesothelin in the title and Mesothelioma in the title or abstract of the Europe PMC record; the summary reproduces the record's abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.; A review summarises other studies; the primary reports it cites are the evidence.

## Sources

- Clin Cancer Res 2004: https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-03-0801
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15217923/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/15217923

## Connected records

- journals: [Clinical Cancer Research](https://onco.cc/journals/clinical-cancer-research/)
- ideas: [Antibody-drug conjugates for mesothelioma: why they have failed so far and how they could work](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-adc-for-mesothelioma/), [Regionally delivered mesothelin CAR-T with PD-1 blockade](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-mesothelin-car-t-regional/), [Treat the body cavity, not the bloodstream, for surface spread](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-bio2-intracavitary-immunotherapy/)

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