How Imatinib Transformed Leukemia Treatment and Cancer Research

[George71]

They are making big strides in cancer treatment -- Doctor transformed the mainstream medical misconception of cancer and its treatment in 2001 leading to the development of Imatinib - (Gleevec®)

Can Genetic Alterations Cause Cancer?

In the 1950s, scientists had a limited understanding of how genes influence cancer.

“It was a time when most investigators did not think that tumors were caused by genetic mutations,” wrote Peter Nowell, M.D., then a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania.

Despite that paradigm, some scientists wondered: Can genetic alterations cause cancer? However, they lacked consistent evidence to support this hypothesis.

During that time, Dr. Nowell spent his days peering into the microscope, studying cancer cells from people with a type of blood cancer called chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). Back then, patients diagnosed with CML were basically handed a death sentence. The available treatments were harsh, invasive, and not very effective.

Despite the popular belief that cancer was not caused by genetic changes, Dr. Nowell was interested in the chromosomes (structures that carry genetic information) of leukemia cells.

cancer.gov/research/progres...