Novel cancer treatment

Press, 18 March 1989, Page 11

Novel cancer treatment

NZPA-Reuter Washington

A group of United States scientists yesterday reported progress on a novel anti-cancer strategy that seeks to kill off tumours by restricting their blood supply. The scientists said they discovered that a synthetic chemical, combined with a hormone called cortisone, stopped the abnormally rapid growth of the tiny blood vessels known as capillaries that tumours need to keep themselves growing. The researchers, writing in the March 17 “Science” magazine, said the discovery could prove useful in a variety of medical applications since the process of generating new capillary systems, known as angiogenesis, is linked to numerous human diseases besides

cancers, including conditions leading to blindness, arthritis and psoriasis, a severe skin disease. Scientists previously have shown that tumours cannot grow beyond a certain point unless new capillaries develop rapidly alongside them. What was missing was an effective way to block capillary growth. Now, a research team led by Paul Weisz, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Judah Folkman, of Harvard Medical School, said they have identified cortisone as effective in blocking capillary growth. Further, they synthesised a chemical in the laboratory that wraps itself around the cortisone and attaches it to the cells that line blood vessels, where it can do the most good.