P16 DELETIONS IN MALIGNANT PERITONEAL MESOTHELIOMA

Abstract

The inundation of advertisements for attorneys specializing in mesothelioma related litigation has played a major role in increasing awareness of the deadly disease and of the dangers of asbestos. For the majority of the public, mesothelioma is merely something heard about during television commercial breaks but the widespread usage of asbestos throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries has major public health implications in America and around the world today. The issues we will discuss have countless applications in law, politics, and medicine. For the purposes of this paper we will focus on the medical applications of research into p16 deletions in malignant mesothelioma. However, complete understanding of the broader significance of the research requires a background exploration into the history behind the use of asbestos in our buildings, homes, and products, the pathology of the disease, and its causes.