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The hype over Judah Folkman’s research into the effects of angiostatin and endostatin on mice reached a fever pitch in the first week of May after The New York Times ran a front page story which quoted Nobel laureate Dr. James Watson claiming, “Judah is going to cure Cancer in two years.”
Folkman’s research is important, but this level of hype was ridiculous. Both of these drugs are at least a year away from being tested in human beings. Folkman certainly has a creative approach to stopping cancer. The compounds he’s investigating work by cutting of the blood supply to cancerous tumors thereby causing them to shrink and disappear -- at least in mice. Chemotherapy research into mice achieved similar results, but when applied to humans was far less effective than the trials with mice indicated.
Even if Folkman’s research doesn’t create a “cure” for cancer, however, what he has learned from his animal experiments represent important advances in human understanding of cancer. The idea that the blood supply of cancerous tumors could be blocked was considered ludicrous when Folkman began working on the idea; thanks to Folkman’s experiments understanding of cancer tumors is much improved.
Source:
Eric Noonan, “Cancer drugs effective in mice; human testing planned.” Associated Press, May 3, 1998.