ihavelearnedthrougha TV show that there is a scientist doing cancer
research at the Children's Hospital in Boston who has discovered the
relationship between
blood vessel growth and blood supply to cancerous tumors, and the way
to kill the tumor by cutting off the blood supply to the cancerous
tumor. I have been searching for 2 hours and cannot find the
information. I nneed to relay it to a person who needs it urgently.
Could you please help?

Hi lilita-ga,

The show you saw was probably "Cancer Warrior," on the PBS series
Nova, regarding the work of Dr. Judah Folkman. His story is one of
those that gives you chills down your spine as you watch.

Briefly, from the NOVA Online website, Dr. Folkman's story is as
follows...

"In 1961, while conducting medical research in a U.S. Navy lab, Dr.
Judah Folkman stumbled upon a hidden secret about how cancer grows.
Before the decade was out, he was forming the theory that would occupy
the rest of his professional life. He called that theory angiogenesis,
and in it he postulated that tumors could not grow larger than the
head of a pin without a blood supply. He also believed that the tumor
secreted some mystery factor that stimulated new blood vessels to
form, bringing nutrition to the tumor and allowing it to grow.

But Dr. Folkman went even further: He also proposed that if the new
blood-vessel growth to the tumor could be blocked, that might offer an
entirely new way to treat cancer. After decades of work, Dr. Folkman
and his team are now watching as clinical trials begin with two
recently discovered angiogenesis inhibitors, endostatin and
angiostatin."

As an RN who worked in oncology for two years I should emphasize that
this approach to cancer treatment is not a "magic bullet" for curing
all cancers (although it may come closer to being such than anything
else on the research horizon)and clinical trials are still underway on
various anti-angiogenesis drugs.

The NOVA Online site with Dr. Folkman's story and links to much useful
information on anti-angiogenesis...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/cancer/folkman.html

For general information on angiogenesis inhibitors, try this link to
the National Cancer Institute...

http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/digestpage/angiogenesis-inhibitors

For info on current clinical trials see...

http://www.cancer.gov/clinicaltrials/developments/anti-angio-table


There is a vast amount of information out there regarding this
potential breakthrough in cancer treatment and the NCI sites above are
a good place to start. If the person you refer to as needing this
information has cancer or has a family member with cancer they should
talk to their doctor about the possibility of getting into one of the
clinical trials. However, be aware that not all cancers or cancer
patients qualify for any given clinical trial.

The following links, with descriptions, are from the PBS web site...

National Cancer Institute (NCI)
http://www.nci.nih.gov

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) offer this Web page for
patients, doctors, and scientists seeking current information about
cancer. In addition to providing general information about types of
cancer and cancer treatments, this site features regular briefings on
the results of clinical trials and topics related to cancer in the
news.

The American Cancer Society (ACS)
http://www.cancer.org

The Web site of the American Cancer Society focuses on providing
support for people living with cancer. Surf the Cancer Survivors
Network, search for a comprehensive list of local cancer resources,
read about complimentary and alternative forms of cancer treatment,
and visit the online bookstore to browse titles related to cancer.

CancerNet
http://www.cancer.gov/cancer_information/

CancerNet functions as an annex to the NCI's main Web site. Much of
the information provided here reiterates what you'll find at the NCI
page, but CancerNet includes an extensive list of Web links related to
cancer and other practical resources such as lists of related
literature, local hospice and home care providers, and support groups.

Cancer News on the Net
http://www.cancernews.com

Cancer News features the latest information regarding cancer
prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Read the Cancer News newsletter,
which is updated weekly, or use the site's search engine to find an
article on a specific cancer-related topic published in a wide range
of other publications.

CanSearch
http://www.cansearch.org

The National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship (NCCS) is a patient-led
advocacy group devoted to representing cancer patients and doctors in
public health policy. Learn more about NCCS and what it does at the
site, which is also available in Spanish.

Cancer Trials
http://www.cancer.gov/clinical_trials/

Another Web service of the NCI, Cancer Trials explains the ins and
outs of clinical trials in layman's language. Want to know if you are
a good candidate for a clinical trial? Do you need more information
about how to enroll in a clinical trial? Cancer Trials provides a
lengthy list of FAQ's sure to answer your questions.

Cancer Education
http://www.cancereducation.com

Education, information, resources, and tools designed to assist
healthcare professionals in their day-to-day practice and patients and
families coping with cancer.

CancerFacts
http://www.cancerfacts.com

CancerFacts has two separate Web sites, one for patients and one for
physicians. Both sites are geared towards offering personalized
information for the user. Create a profile for yourself by entering a
type of cancer, stage of illness, age, and sex, and receive specific
information tailored to your needs.

CancerTrack
http://www.cancertrack.com

CancerTrack is another well-organized and accurate Internet resource
for cancer patients and their families. The site's home page contains
a Cancer News section that is updated every 15 minutes from over 2,000
sources.

EntreMed
http://www.entremed.com

EntreMed, Inc. is the biopharmaceutical company that licensed the
three naturally occurring inhibitors of angiogenesis -- endostatin,
angiostatin, and Panzem (2ME2) -- that were discovered in Dr.
Folkman's Surgical Research Laboratory in Boston. While several drug
companies are developing and testing different types of angiogenesis
inhibitors, EntreMed is the only company conducting clinical trials of
these naturally occurring drugs. EntreMed has an interesting and
well-organized Web site full of information on the progress of their
drugs' clinical trials, articles related to antiangiogenesis and Dr.
Folkman, and a listing of helpful links for cancer patients and their
families.

The University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center
http://www.cancer.wisc.edu/

The two Wisconsin residents who were featured in "Cancer Warrior"
while enrolled in the clinical trial of endostatin received treatment
at the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center. The
Center, one of 37 National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive
cancer centers in the U.S., is a world leader in cancer research and
treatment. Visit the Center's Web site for more information about its
clinical trials. Though the endostatin trial is currently closed to
new patients, clinical trials are available for other cancer drugs.

Children's Hospital, Boston
http://www.childrenshospital.org/

The pioneering angiogenesis research of Dr. Judah Folkman and his
colleagues takes place at the Children's Surgical Research
Laboratories at Children's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. If you
wish to make a donation to support Dr. Folkman's research or want to
find out more about the hospital where he works, visit this site.

OncoLink
http://www.oncolink.com

The University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center maintains this extensive
cancer education site and updates the site's information daily. The
site is designed to provide cancer-related resources to a wide
audience, from those who know very little about the disease to those
who know more and are seeking in-depth information. Among the site's
many unique features are hundreds of cancer-related book reviews and a
section devoted to dealing with the financial aspects of cancer
treatment.

I hope this information helps you. Please feel free to ask for
additional information or clarification if needed.

wayga-ga

The scientist is Judah Folkman, MD, and the principle of treatment is
referred to as anti-angiogenesis. What further specific information
might be of help?

good comment lilita-ga, i saw the same show the asker was asking about.

The scientist involved in this research is Dr. Judah Folkman.  The
goal of the research, in a nut shell is to prevent growth of blood
vessels and to starve  tumor cells to death.  As a cancer researcher
in a major Boston research center, I can say that this type of
approach is one among many approaches taken today.  Many labs concern
themselves with  therapeutic approaches to cancer treatment in which
the goal is to find drugs, that kill tumor cells but to which, tumor
cells do not become resistant.

Based on updates in the field of angiogensis inhibition, I gather that
the experiments are very difficult to undertake and the road to
therapeutic intervention along this path is rocking and
uncompromising.

Several articles about a new treatment related to this one became
available just yesterday and today on Google News. The best of these
seems to be the one from Science Daily:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/11/021105080723.htm

To summarize: Instead of preventing the growth of new blood cells to
tumors, as in Dr. Folkman's work, these researchers developed a
vaccine that causes the body's immune system to attack any newly grown
blood vessels. Trials in mice have been quite successful, though human
trials are still some ways off. "The most valuable use of such a
vaccine," says WebMD.com, "may be in preventing or delaying recurrence
of tumors in people already diagnosed and treated for various types of
cancer."

Other articles about the vaccine can be found at:
http://news.google.com/news?num=30&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&filter=0&q=cluster:reuters%2ecom%2fnews%5farticle%2ejhtml%3ftype%3dhealthnews%26StoryID%3d1677256