Faculty Bibliography

The proteins, which are either genetically engineered or synthetic, block the growth of blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors, starving them and making them shrink. The proteins were not toxic in the experiments conducted by researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and seemed not to affect noncancerous tissue. The Scripps findings add to proof from other recent experiments that cancers are dependent on angiogenesis, [Judah Folkman] said in an interview. The Scripps team reported that the proteins destroyed newly sprouting blood vessels, thus choking off the blood supply that carries nourishment to tumors and carries cancerous cells to other parts of the body. The result was that the tumors shriveled and also stopped spreading, in the process known as metastasis

Researchers in California on Dec 29, 1994 reported that in laboratory experiments on animals they had discovered a potentially powerful way to make tumors regress with a single injection of either of two types of proteins, which block the growth of blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors. The findings were reported in the Dec 30 issue of Cell

The proteins, which are either genetically engineered or synthetic, block the growth of blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors, starving them and making them shrink. The proteins were not toxic in the animal experiments conducted by researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego and seemed not to affect noncancerous tissue. If the proteins tested by the Scripps researchers go into human clinical trials, they will join eight others now being tested in the United States and Europe. The eight also are aimed at slowing the growth of cancerous tumors and preventing their spread. The Scripps team reported that the proteins destroyed newly sprouting blood vessels, thus choking off the blood supply that carries nourishment to tumors and carries cancerous cells to other parts of the body. The result was that the tumors shriveled and also stopped spreading, a process known as metastasis

The proteins, which are either genetically engineered or synthetic, block the growth of blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors, starving them and making them shrink. The proteins were not toxic in the experiments conducted by researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., and seemed not to affect noncancerous tissue. The Scripps team reported that the proteins destroyed newly sprouting blood vessels, thus choking off the blood supply that carries nourishment to tumors and carries cancerous cells to other parts of the body. The result was that the tumors shriveled and also stopped spreading, in the process known as metastasis. After 24 hours, the scientists injected some embryos with either of the two proteins. As a scientific control, they let other embryos grow without any injections. The embryos injected with the proteins showed a dramatic reduction in the number of blood vessels that fed the tumors; the tumors regressed and the embryos developed normally. The embryos in the control group maintained the usual pattern of blood vessels; the tumors grew and spread