A molecule of hope: Targeting cancer treatment

No one is saying "cure," but some researchers may be thinking it, as work with genes, proteins and cancer pathways offers new ways of approaching various cancers.

By Kathleen F. Phalen, AMNews correspondent. May 20, 2002.

Our body is a huge city of cells. And cancer is like a hunted sociopath, wreaking havoc within it. As a sociopath, the cancer is ruthless, surviving at any cost. It disrupts normal communication within parts of the whole, and safety controls misfire. Doctors try to stop its avenging crusade. But it is masterful, furtively escaping medicine's attempts to kill, maim or cripple its movements. Even when halted, the sociopath often returns, more aggressive, more deadly.

Until recently, it seemed cancer would always have the upper hand.

But researchers are beginning to understand more about this aberrant behavior -- about genes, proteins and cancer pathways. They are identifying specific molecular targets and developing weapons that recognize cancer's clandestine maneuvers.

"Chemotherapy is like taking a shotgun and killing everyone in a room. The new targets are like adding a telescope so we can pick out the bad one," said Michael Wong, MD, PhD, an oncologist, scientist and assistant professor of medicine at University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute."[Scientists] recognized that molecules are part and parcel to the malignant process ... so we started thinking, 'Let's make a drug to go after that bad one.' "

And they have. Medications such as the highly touted Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) and Herceptin (trastuzumab) offer promises of life where there were none even four years ago. Patient tales of recovery sound almost miraculous. Still, the long-term effects are not yet known, and the drugs aren't universally effective. [...]