Faculty Bibliography

The developers of the treatment say it might overcome shortcomings that have doomed earlier similar attempts to starve cancers. Previous efforts to strangle tumors have failed because cancers can use more than one method to grow blood vessels. Experts hope the new approach interferes with a process that is essential to all these methods of growth. The Scripps Institute team used two proteins in the animal tests. The first was a genetically engineered monoclonal antibody that the researchers developed at the institute and that the researchers have licensed to Ixsys Inc. of San Diego. The antibody is highly specific; it blocks only a substance known as integrin alpha beta, which seems to bind cells lining the blood vessels. 'The antibody tricks these newly forming vessels into self-destruction, or programmed cell death, by interfering with their survival signal,' [David Cheresh] said. 'When the signal is blocked, the cells think they are in the wrong place and commit suicide.'

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

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 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 that are now being tested in the United States and Europe, and that were developed as ways to inhibit tumor angiogenesis. The eight other compounds are aimed at slowing the growth of cancerous tumors and preventing their spread. But until the Scripps report, [Judah Folkman] said, 'no one had thought that you could get tumor regression.' 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

The proteins, which are either genetically engineered or synthetic, block the growth of blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors, starving the tumors and making them shrink. The proteins were not toxic in the experiments conducted by researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in San Diego and seemed not to affect non-cancerous tissue. If the proteins tested by the Scripps researchers go into human clinical trials, they will join eight others that are now being tested in the United States and Europe, and that were developed as ways to inhibit tumor angiogenesis. The eight other compounds 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, in the process known as metastasis

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine by a surgical team at Stanford University indicates that an experimental device that reinforces the aorta when it is weakened by an aneurysm can greatly simplify surgical repair of the condition

The idea of using devices to repair aortic aneurysms dates at least to 1969 when Dr. Charles T. Dotter tried it on animals at the University of Oregon in Portland. In 1991, Dr. Juan C. Parodi of Buenos Aires reported using a device to repair abdominal aortic aneurysms in humans

An aneurysm, a potentially fatal and common condition, is a ballooning of an artery, and it usually develops painlessly. The chief danger is that an aneurysm can burst suddenly, without warning, and cause death within minutes. The aorta is the artery that carries blood from the heart to supply oxygen and other nutrients to the rest of the body. Aneurysms can develop anywhere along the course of an artery. The idea of using devices to repair aortic aneurysms dates at least to 1969 when Dr. Charles T. Dotter tried it on animals at the University of Oregon in Portland. In 1991, Dr. Juan C. Parodi of Buenos Aires reported using a device to repair abdominal aortic aneurysms in humans. The device used in the Stanford study is different because the aorta in the chest has a larger diameter than the aorta in the abdomen. The device for the chest consists of stainless steel stents covered with woven Dacron grafts that are custom-designed for each patient to account for factors like the size, location and other anatomical features of the aneurysm