Re: Cancer Cured in Mice

["Scott D. Kniffin" <Scott.D.Kniffin.1@gsfc.nasa.gov>]

Wes and RADSAFErs,

Don't get too excited yet, NCI is only starting a phase one human study,
it'll take years to get this off the ground if it even works.  I hate to be
a spoil sport, but there have been about 5 or 6 "cures" for cancer, in mice
only.  The human body just likes to do strange things, ie: not what we want.  
I certainly hope for the best, but I'm not going to jump for joy just yet.
Too many dissapointments are bad for morale.  Espically with family members
that have cancer.

Scott Kniffin

mailto:Scott.D.Kniffin.1@gsfc.nasa.gov
RSO, Unisys Corp. @ Lanham, MD
CHO, Radiation Effects Facility, GSFC, NASA, Greenbelt, MD

The opinions expressed here are my own.  They do not necessarily represent
the views of Unisys Corporation or NASA.  This information has not been
reviewed by my employer or supervisor.  

At 10:17 05/03/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Radsafers,
>
>Today, the New York Times broke the story of a possible cancer cure.
>Tested only in mice so far, two protein fragments, endostatin and
>angiostatin, can eliminate many types of cancer. There are no known
>toxic side effects, and tumor cells do not become resistant to these
>drugs. They work by inhibiting the formation of blood vessels in tumors.
>If this new discovery turns out to be true, the effects on our
>civilization will be awesome. Our profession of radiation safety will
>also change, since the stochastic (carcinogenic) effects of radiation
>exposure will be of little real consequence. We will need to protect
>against only non-stochastic effects.  And cancer radiotherapy will no
>longer be needed.
>
>Wow.
>
>Best regards,
>Wes
>-- 
>Wesley R. Van Pelt, Ph.D., CIH, CHP                KF2LG
>President, Van Pelt Associates, Inc.     
>Consulting in radiological health and safety.
>mailto:VanPeltW@IDT.net        
>http://shell.idt.net/~vanpeltw/index.html