American Decades
Cancer
Research and Treatment.
In 1993 1.1 million new cases of cancer were reported in the United States. Cancer of the lung ranked first in number of occurrences, followed by cancer of the colon. Researchers found that a faulty MSH2 gene, detectable by a blood test, predisposed one in two hundred people to the development of colon cancer. Another blood test, the PSA (prostate specific antigen), showed an elevation in the presence of prostate cancer and became an effective screening technique for the early stages of the disease. Basic research on multiple fronts sought new ways to treat or prevent cancer. Dr. Judah Folkman, director of the Surgical Research Laboratories, Children's Hospital of Boston, discovered two drugs, endostatin and angiostatin, which could cure cancer in mice by altering new blood vessel growth. Although there was no evidence that this treatment would work in humans, the price of stock in his biotech firm increased...
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1990's Medicine and Health
