Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is an almost invariably fatal, 
asbestos-related malignancy arising from the mesothelial membrane lining the 
thoracic cavities. Despite some improvements in treatment, therapy is not 
considered curative and median survival following diagnosis is less than 1 year. 
Although still classed as a rare cancer, the incidence of MPM is increasing, and 
the limited progress in treating the disease makes the identification of new 
therapies a priority. As there is evidence for expression of the integrins αvβ3 
and αvβ5 in MPM, there is a rationale for investigating the effects on MPM of 
cilengitide, a synthetic peptide inhibitor of integrin αv heterodimer with high 
specificity for αvβ3 and αvβ5. In mesothelial cells (MC) and 7 MPM cell lines, 
growth inhibition by cilengitide was associated with the expression level of its 
target integrins. Furthermore, cilengitide caused cell detachment and subsequent 
death of anoikis-sensitive cells. It also suppressed invasion of MPM cells in 
monolayer and three-dimensional cultures. Gene knockdown experiments indicated 
that these effects of cilengitide were, at least partly, due to antagonism of 
αvβ3 and αvβ5.