Sharks Get Cancer, Mole Rats Don't: How Animals Could Hold the Key to Unlocking Cancer Immunity in Humans - Softcover

Welsh, MD James S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1633881547 ISBN 13: 9781633881549

Verlag: Prometheus Books, 2016

Inhaltsangabe

This fresh and fascinating exploration of new directions in cancer research focuses on the important role of the immune system in combatting this dread disease. Integrating clues from the animal kingdom, the veterinary clinic, extraordinary human cases, and even embryology, the author—a cancer physician, biologist, and physicist—creates a novel and compelling account of tumor immunology and the promises of immunotherapy.

As the author explains, animals offer us many tantalizing clues about the nature of cancer in humans. Tasmanian devils are on the verge of extinction due to a virulent form of contagious cancer; soft-shelled clams on the East coast of North America are vanishing due to another epidemic of contagious cancer; dogs also contract a contagious cancer but they spontaneously overcome it; and a type of mouse and the homely mole rat are not susceptible to the disease at all. 

In humans, there are rare instances of spontaneous cures of advanced cancers induced by radiation. An uncommon form of dwarfism called Laron syndrome confers total cancer immunity on the people who inherit the condition. And recent research suggests that cancer has stolen the secret that shields the embryo against hostile attacks from the mother’s immune system.

The author makes a convincing case that what all of these diverse examples have in common is the immune system and its ability or inability to respond to malignancies. He concludes with a review of the exciting research on the human immune system and the development of new treatments that are inducing the immune system to combat and conquer even the deadliest cancers.

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

James S. Welsh, MD, FACRO is professor, director of clinical and translational research, and medical director of radiation oncology at the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University - Chicago and chief of radiation oncology at the Edwards Hines Jr VA Hospital. He also practices and conducts research in proton beam therapy at the Northwestern Medicine Chicago Proton Therapy Center. He has led research in boron neutron capture therapy and fast neutron therapy at Fermilab when he was the neutron therapy physician at the NIU Institute for Neutron Therapy at Fermilab.

Dr. Welsh has authored over 100 scientific articles and is a sought-after lecturer. Board certified in radiation oncology and neuro oncology, he has worked in the Oncology Department at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, the Human Oncology and Medical Physics Departments at the University of Wisconsin, and was full professor of neurosurgery and radiology at LSU-Shreveport.

He is the current president of the American College of Radiation Oncology and is on the board of directors for the Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics. He recently concluded eight years of service on the Advisory Committee for the Medical Uses of Isotopes, which advises the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission on medical issues.

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Sharks Get Cancer, Mole Rats Don't

How Animals Could Hold the Key to Unlocking Cancer Immunity in Humans

By James S. Welsh

Prometheus Books

Copyright © 2016 James S. Welsh, MD
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-63388-154-9

Contents

Preface, 7, 
Chapter 1: What Just Happened?, 9, 
Chapter 2: Action at a Distance, 17, 
Chapter 3: Disappearing Devils, 23, 
Chapter 4: The Devil Himself: Some Diabolical Biology, 25, 
Chapter 5: Devil of a Disease, 31, 
Chapter 6: The Perfect Parasite, 35, 
Chapter 7: A Malignant Malady in Man's Best Friend, 45, 
Chapter 8: The Curious Case of Coley's Toxins (Or Sometimes the Treatment Worked), 55, 
Chapter 9: The Dog Knows, 63, 
Chapter 10: Males Need Not Apply, 69, 
Chapter 11: Could Brown Fat Be the Secret to Weight Loss?, 75, 
Chapter 12: Gamma Rays and Dinosaur Cancer, 85, 
Chapter 13: Cancer of the Clam!, 97, 
Chapter 14: Sharks Do Get Cancer (Or How Shark Cartilage Can Kill You), 107, 
Chapter 15: Who Truly Doesn't Get Cancer? — Meet the Mole Rats, 115, 
Chapter 16: Par for the Course, 121, 
Chapter 17: Mighty Mouse to the Rescue!, 125, 
Chapter 18: Frodo of Flores, 133, 
Chapter 19: A Cancer-Free Clan?, 143, 
Chapter 20: Cancer: A Disease of Immune Failure?, 153, 
Chapter 21: Malignant Cargo, 165, 
Chapter 22: The Power of the Immune System, 171, 
Chapter 23: Man Dies of Ovarian Cancer, 179, 
Chapter 24: Man's Life Saved by Mosquito Bite, 185, 
Chapter 25: Moles, Moles, and More Moles, 197, 
Chapter 26: Tumors through the Wormhole, 203, 
Chapter 27: The Imposter, 207, 
Chapter 28: Competition: The Cause of the Cellular Disease, 221, 
Chapter 29: A Standard Model of Molecular Oncology, 227, 
Chapter 30: Runaway Train!, 233, 
Chapter 31: Order Out of Chaos, 249, 
Chapter 32: Immune Theory of Cancer, 255, 
Chapter 33: What Can Cows Teach Us about Conquering Cancer?, 265, 
Chapter 34: Tough Mothers and Juvenile Delinquents, 273, 
Chapter 35: As Crazy as the Quantum Café, 275, 
Chapter 36: Connected Dots: Looking Back and Glimpsing the Future, 283, 
Acknowledgments, 293, 
Appendix: Images with Extended Captions, 295, 
Notes, 303, 
Glossary, 333, 
Bibliography, 351, 
Index, 375, 

CHAPTER 1

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

Allow me to present a very distressing case ...

Daniel — a seemingly healthy, soft-spoken fellow in his early thirties — was about to get news no one ever wants to hear. For years, this athletic, young engineer was eager to soak up some sun and enjoy weekend basketball with his friends. No one can ever know if these habits contributed to the development of an ominous black blotch that began growing on the back of his neck. Like a shark's fin, just beneath the surface was a potential killer.

One day after a pickup game, a friend asked him about a little "freckle" that in some way looked different and angrier. "Hey, Dan, what's that on your neck?" pointing to the dark, discolored patch of skin that slightly resembled tree bark. After seeing it himself with the aid of a couple of mirrors, Daniel decided to have it checked out.

The news was certainly not what he wanted; he had a highly aggressive skin cancer called malignant melanoma. The wide local excision surgical procedure appeared to remove all of the cancer, but melanoma has a notorious tendency to spread far and wide. Most unfortunately for Daniel, within a year his cancer did just that. Despite state-of-the-art combination chemotherapy (meaning multiple drugs given at the same time), the cancer progressed unabated. Almost taunting the chemotherapy, the malignancy soon inundated his body, spreading first to his lymph nodes and then to his lungs. The next line of defense was interferon, an early edition of cancer immunotherapy. Clinical studies had suggested that this then relatively new form of cancer immunotherapy could be of benefit to some melanoma patients. Daniel was not one of them. Interferon can be rough on patients, and the harrowing flu-like symptoms of headache, fever, and malaise were just too intense. He capitulated, electing to discontinue treatment. In defiance of the brief interferon treatment, his disease spread, or metastasized, unrelentingly, as melanoma is wont to do.

Although advanced cancers can ultimately spread practically anywhere, most have preferred sites of initial migration. For example, prostate cancer normally first metastasizes to bone, whereas colon cancer often first spreads to the liver. Melanoma tends to initially involve the lymph nodes, lungs, and liver — and also the brain. At that time, brain metastases heralded an imminent death sentence. Fortunately for Daniel, his MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) studies never showed brain metastases. But melanoma also has a nasty penchant for attacking bone. And in due course, Daniel's inexorable cancer began assailing his skeleton, causing at first only a dull, throbbing ache in his femur (thighbone). Sadly, this pain magnified unremittingly over time to the point where it was all he could think about.

By the time I first saw Daniel in the radiation oncology clinic he was pale, emaciated, weak, and in a wheelchair, unable to walk because of his now lancinating leg pain. He had that all-too-familiar lifeless look: sallow, wasted, and withered beyond his years. Given his recently discovered liver metastases, his medical oncologist had already answered — quite realistically — that dreaded question that no physician wants to address; Daniel had perhaps four more months to live.

Daniel was given heavy doses of morphine, yet the pain pierced through the drug's defensive layer. I could sense that he was suffering quietly as we spoke about his symptoms. We both hoped that I could target a dose of radiation to the bone tumor, thereby shrinking it somewhat and afford him at least a modicum of relief. My first concern however was his risk of a possible pathological fracture — Was his femur in imminent danger of fracturing due to the erosion brought on by the bone-eating tumor? If so, he would require prophylactic surgery to avert a disaster that would likely render him bedridden for the rest of his days. Fortunately the x-rays indicated that the bone had not yet disintegrated to that degree. Nevertheless, cancer was rasping away at this bone, and possibly several others, and needed to be dealt with expeditiously. Before initiating radiotherapy I obtained a bone scan (a nuclear medicine study designed to determine if other bones were involved). If one envisions tumors as tiny light bulbs, Daniel's skeleton lit up like a Broadway marquee.

I offered him palliative radiation therapy to relieve his excruciating pain and to reduce the risk of future pathological fracture. By definition, although this palliative treatment might reduce his pain and forestall a fracture, it was unable to significantly prolong his life. As far as any long-term prospects, it looked like all hope was lost. This radiotherapy was not going to change his prognosis; it was strictly symptom relieving.

I know Daniel tried to pay attention during our consultation, but his mind was unfocussed, distracted by the agony in his leg. I wanted to have an honest and open discussion with him about his prognosis and what the radiotherapy could and could not do. He brusquely concluded the conversation, "Doctor, I just want this pain to go away. When can we get started?"

At the...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Prometheus Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2016
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1633881547
• ISBN 13: 9781633881549
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 406
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Niederlande