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On November 18th, 1971, Judah Folkman, a little known New England surgeon, published a scientific paper documenting the dependency of tumors on the growth of new blood vessels from the body, as well as the therapeutic implications resulting from his new discovery. Dr. Folkman proposed that the tumor recruited these blood vessels to support itself. The process by which tumors elicit these blood vessels from the body is known as “angiogenesis”. The publication of Dr. Judah Folkman’s paper entitled, “Tumor angiogenesis: therapeutic implications” (New England Journal of Medicine, 1971) has influenced cancer research by establishing a new field of study with treatment possibilities that solve many age-old therapeutic dilemmas. Angiogenic therapy offers a universal treatment approach to all cancers, better mechanisms for catching cancer early, and also answers for previously unexplained phenomena, such as tumor dormancy.
Judah Folkman was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1933. In 1953 he graduated from the Ohio State University and went on to Harvard Medical School. Afterwards, Dr. Folkman became a surgeon and made important discoveries throughout a range of medical fields before he became interested in cancer. For instance, he is responsible for pioneering in the field of controlled medication release, which in turn led to the invention of the popular contraceptive “Norplant”. During the 1960’s, Dr. Folkman was drafted to the navy and began investigating the possible use of a blood substitute that could be stored for long periods of time and then given to wounded. After Dr. Folkman completed his assignment, he began to experiment on his own time, investigating cancer and the biology of solid tumors. ...
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...ughout Tumor Development?” Research VEGF. Gentech, 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. .
Naumov GN, Akslen LA, and Folkman J. “Role of Angiogenesis in Human Tumor Dormancy: Animal Models of the Angiogenic Switch.” Cell Cycle 5.16: n. pag. Abstract. Pubmed. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. .
Pacific Life Insurance Company. “Cancer Biomarkers: Still Controversial.” Pacific Life. Pacific Life Insurance Co., 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. .
Tosetti, Francesca, et al. “‘Angioprevention’: Angiogenesis as a Common and Key Target for Cancer Chemopreventive Agents.” FASEB 16 (2002): 2-14. The FASEB Journal. Web. 27 Apr. 2010. .
The book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is the result of years of research done by Skloot on an African American woman with cervical cancer named Henrietta Lacks. Cells from Lacks’ tumor are taken and experimented on without her knowledge. These cells, known as HeLa cells, are the first immortal human cells ever grown. The topic of HeLa cells is at the center of abundant controversial debates. Despite the fact that her cells are regarded as, “one of the most important advancements in the last hundred years” (4), little is actually known about the woman behind the cells. Skloot sets out on a mission to change this fact and share the story of the woman from whom the cells originate and her family as they deal with the effects these cells have on them.
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta Lacks. In the early 1951 Henrietta discovered a hard lump on the left of the entrance of her cervix, after having unexpected vaginal bleeding. She visited the Johns Hopkins hospital in East Baltimore, which was the only hospital in their area where black patients were treated. The gynecologist, Howard Jones, indeed discovers a tumor on her cervix, which he takes a biopsy off to sent it to the lab for diagnosis. In February 1951 Henrietta was called by Dr. Jones to tell about the biopsy results: “Epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix, Stage I”, in other words, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Before her first radium treatment, surgeon dr. Wharton removed a sample of her cervix tumor and a sample of her healthy cervix tissue and gave this tissue to dr. George Gey, who had been trying to grow cells in his lab for years. In the meantime that Henrietta was recovering from her first treatment with radium, her cells were growing in George Gey’s lab. This all happened without the permission and the informing of Henrietta Lacks. The cells started growing in a unbelievable fast way, they doubled every 24 hours, Henrietta’s cells didn’t seem to stop growing. Henrietta’s cancer cell grew twenty times as fast as her normal healthy cells, which eventually also died a couple of days after they started growing. The first immortal human cells were grown, which was a big breakthrough in science. The HeLa cells were spread throughout the scientific world. They were used for major breakthroughs in science, for example the developing of the polio vaccine. The HeLa-cells caused a revolution in the scientific world, while Henrietta Lacks, who died Octob...
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks is a non-fictional novel dedicated to describing the life and experiences of a woman by the name of Henrietta Lacks who’s cervical cells became famous for a multitude of reasons. Henrietta was an African American woman born in the 1920’s who developed an aggressive form of cervical cancer and was treated by doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Her infamous story began when doctors began treating Henrietta with radium and took tissue samples from her cervix without her knowing. Cancer researchers began testing Henrietta’s cells (labeled HeLa) and found that they, unlike many other human cells, multiplied at rapid rates and almost seemed to be “immortal” or never-ending. These cells were shared, sold, and researched
The doctors started taking the cervical cancerous tissue without Henrietta’s knowledge, and surprisingly, the cells did not die in the culture dish as normal cells did. George Gey, the doctor who sends the “immortal” cells to his colleagues for the purpose of researching, creates the first immortalized human cell line that helps save a large number of people’s lives. After the Lackses realized that Henrietta’s cells had been sold without their consent, they did not start taking action because of their lack of knowledge.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Note that the introduction of screening may produce short-term rises (AIHW, Cancer incidence projections) due to greater detection.
Henrietta’s cells were being inaugurated with space travel, infused into rat cells, and even being used to make infertile hens fertile again. However, these are only a few of the many accomplishments that Henrietta’s immortal cells made possible: “The National Cancer Institute was using various cells, including HeLa, to screen more than thirty thousand chemicals and plant extracts, which would yield several of today’s most widely used and effective chemotherapy drugs, including Vincristine and Taxol,”(pg.139). This example of logos from the text again shows just how important these Henrietta’s cells were to the future developments in
Further research on this alternative model could lead to therapies that not only target the properties of the primary tumor but also those of the secondary tumor and save many from the burden of fighting cancer again.
In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, multiple cell research studies involving Henrietta’s cells are described. Author Rebecca Skloot writes about Henrietta Lacks’ journey through her cervical cancer and how her cells changed the lives of millions long after her death. Skloot relates the history of cell research, including those studies which were successful and those that were not so successful. It is necessary for the author to include the achievements and disturbing practices of scientists throughout this history to inform readers and focus on the way Henrietta’s cells were used. Truth always matters to readers and Henrietta’s family deserves the truth.
Thumbing through the pages of Business Week, the headline read Maybe Jaws Can Put the Bite on Cancer. Interested, I continued to read the short article. According to the reporter, Otis Port, researchers at California State University in Fresno say that they have isolated four substances in shark cartilage that appear to inhibit cancer (93). Curious, I continued to read the rest of the article. The chemicals block a mechanism discovered in the mid-1980s at Harvard University: Tumor cells secrete a protein called angiogenin that entices blood vessels to grow close to cancers and nourish them. The shark extracts counteract angiogenin and the tumor starves (93). I sat there pondering the concept and decided that I would further investigate this intoxicating find.
The acquisition of an immortalized proliferative potential is very important for human tumors because, otherwise, the tumors will not grow in number nor will they metastasize. Mutations in progenitor cells would not be transmitted too far as they have limited replication and proliferation ability. Thus, the growth of the tumors will be limited. Hence, if there is even a very small population of cells with the ability to proliferate continuously, there will be a source for productions of more cells for the tumor. Clonogenic assays have shown that, though most cells in a tumor have a limited ability to proliferate, a subset of cancer cells exist in these tumors that continuously proliferate and give rise to new tumors on transplantation.
Cancer starts when certain cells in the body are mutated or changed and begin to divide. Cancerous cells grow differently than normal cells, instead of progressing through the normal cell lifecycle, cancer cells continue to grow and create more abnormal cells. A specific trait of cancer cells is that they have the ability to infiltrate and grow into surrounding tissues, developing out of control and causing serious damage to the host (Vincent, 2008). Cells become cance...
...r is hard to cure due to its ability to metastasis and avoid apoptosis due to mutation occurs in the genes during mitosis, especially on oncogen and tumour suppressor gene. Oncogen contribute to cancer cells by encouraging cells to grow and divide excessively while tumour suppressor genes inhibit apoptosis. As all cells on Earth require oxygen, nutrients and the ability to remove waste products to survive and develop, it seems possible to develop anti-cancer drugs which will target at those blood vessels which supply nutrients to tumour cells. Even though this method is providing some promising results, there is no significant improvement in the overall survival of the organism in the long term. Nevertheless, the understanding of cellular basis of cancer cells gain from numerous researches have certainly help in developing new and effective treatment for cancer.
Cancer has been seen in humans as one the most potentially fatal disease for thousands of years and only in the recent couple of hundred years have we discovered that most information necessary to bring us to today’s understanding and knowledge (Kenny 2007, Weinberg 1996) was achieved by extensive research of cells, DNA, and epidemiology studies. As we know, currently cancer is acknowledged as having over a hundred different diseases, and is known to be the result of mutations of the genes and almost similar DNA which are responsible for the amount of cell division and production (Kenny 2007). Restraint of cell growth modulators can be a direct lead and result of certain tumours being developed and subsequently allow these tumours to acquire the ability to attack and occupy the bloodstream and essentially be able to travel via the bloodstream to other parts and organs in human bodies which is known as metastasis (Loeb et Al 2003). Once this has occurred , the cancer is then categorized as malicious and becomes a dangerous and serious threat to the carrier (Weinberg 1996). In this essay I will describe and explain the process of this and how our genes mutate and lead to metastasis of cancer cells.
WHO, W. H. (2008). Tradtional Medicine. available at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs134/en/ retrieved on 9-11-11 at 10:30 pm.