From ^Rising Star* of Cancer Research
Body’s Natural Defenses Get Helping Hand
Duke is in the forefront of cancer
research, and has been named as the
site for a Comprehensive Cancer
Center by the National Cancer
Institute.
This is the third article in a series of
four written by Miss Yvonne Baskin,
medical writer in the Public Relations
Office, dealing with the status of
cancer research and treatment, with
particular emphasis on developments
at Duke.
The first fwo articles (INTERCOM
Oct. 12 and Oct. 19) dealt with the
use of surgery, *radiation and drugs in
cancer treatment. The subject of the
article below is immunotherapy-
trying to find out how to trigger the
body's own defenses against this
invader.
The final article will deal with
efforts to find the causes of cancer
through research with viruses.
One of the major mysteries of cancer
is why the human body does not reject
the alien cells of a tumor just as it rejects
and destroys other foreign tissue, such as
transplanted organs.
Finding the answer to this question
and putting it to use against cancer is the
goal of the newest branch of cancer
research—i mmu rwtherapy.
Immunotherapy is the "rising star" of
cancer research, a field which has received
much publicity and which many feel
holds the most potential for eventually
producing cures. But the field is still 25
years behind chemotherapy and has
produced little so far that is of practical
benefit to cancer victims.
"The most important work in
immunotherapy is still at the basic
science level," said Dr. H. F. Seigler,
associate professor of both surgery and
immunology here. Research in this field
will be expanded under the new
Comprehensive Cancer Center program at
Duke funded by the National Cancer
Institute.
Foreign material which enters the
body produces substances called antigens.
These antigens stimulate two immune
reactions in the body. The first is the
production of circulating antibodies that
may react with and destroy these
antigens. The second reaction is at the
cellular level, where white blood cells
called lymphocytes are activiated and
transformed by the antigens into killer
nteKcom
duke uniueusity mc^ic^l ccnteR.
•VOLUME 20, NUMBER 44
NOVEMBER 2, 1973
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
Sigler Heads PR Group
Dr. D. Tosteson To Assume
Chairmanship of A.A.M.C.
cells which seek to destroy the foreign
material.
These are the reactions which will
destroy transplanted material such as
kidneys or hearts unless the immune
system is suppressed.
Researchers have found evidence that
human tumors produce antigens and that
the body does produce antibodies against
them. Why then doesn't the body
"reject" a tumor the way it can reject a
foreign kidney?
Seigler has found in experiments on
nfielanoma (skin cancer) patients at Duke
that the malignant tumor releases so
much antigen that it overwhelms the
body's immune system. There is excess
tumor antigen in the body for the free
antibodies and lymphocytes to react with
and these defenders apparently never
control the tumor.
The main thrust of clinical trials in
immunotherapy has been to try to boost
the patient's own immune system to help
it fight the cancer. Seigler has been
conducting such trials for four years now
using a combination of three methods.
The first is injections of BCG, a
tuberculosis vaccine which is known to
activate the body's immune system. Earl\
investigators had found that children
immunized with BCG for tuberculosis
had 60 per cent less leukemia than
nonimmunized children.
But BCG just stimulates the immune
system in general; it has no specific
anti-tumor effect. The second method
used by Seigler has been to separate
lymphocytes from the patient's blood
and expose them to cancer cells from the
patient in tissue culture. These
(Continued on page 3)
DR. DANIEL TOSTESON
Joe SIGLER
Dr. Daniel C. Tosteson, chairman of
the Department of Physiology and
Pharmacology, will take over the
chairmanship of the Association of
American Medical Colleges at the
AAMC's annual meeting in Washington
next week.
The chairmanship is the - highest
elective office in the AAMC, which is the
primary guiding organization for medical
education in the United States. It
represents all of the country's 114
schools of medicine and most of their.
affiliated teaching hospitals.
Also taking over an AAMC office at
the Washington meeting will be Joe
Sigler, director of public relations.
Sigler, who last year won the AAMC's
Award for Excellence in Medical
Education Public Relations, will become
chairman of the AAMC's Group on Public
Relations.
Tosteson is the first representative of
the AAMC's Council of Academic
Societies to be chosen chairman. He said
he believes this development shows how
the AAMC is moving to represent more
effectively all segments of academic
medicine, including the professional
educators who comprise the faculties of
schools of medicine.
Tosteson is a basic medical scientist
whose research investigates the
mechanisms of movement of salt across
the surface membranes of living cells.
Abnormalities in. this fundamental
process underlie many manifestations of
diseases of the heart, kidney and other
organs. Tosteson's interests are not
limited to the laboratory but also include
medical education and the development
of public policy related to health. He is
one of the architects of the innovative
medical curriculum at Duke.
He said he is concerned about the roles
and responsibilities of professional
(Continued on page 3)
*^4
i
n
w
fi
EARNING HIS PLACE—Jh\s young ape, sporting a tee-shirt proclaiming him a "first
class, full fledged member of the Human Race," is helping Duke immunologists leam
more about human tumor immunology. Through studies on apes like this one at the
Yerkes Regional Primate Research Facility in Atlanta, Duke researchers are working
on new and better ways to diagnose and treat cancer.