Author : Gregory J. Morgan
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 10,56 MB
Release : 2022-08-02
Category : Health & Fitness
ISBN : 1421444011
"The author tells a history of the study of cancer-causing viruses from the early twentieth century to the development of an HPV vaccine for cervical cancer in 2006. He profiles the "cancer virus hunters" who made breakthroughs in tumor virology"--
Author : Gregory J. Morgan
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 23,62 MB
Release : 2022-08-02
Category : Science
ISBN : 142144402X
Traces the history of the study of tumor viruses and its role in driving breakthroughs in cancer research. Worldwide, approximately one-fifth of human cancers are caused by tumor viruses, with hepatitis B virus and HPV being the leading culprits. While the explosive growth in molecular biology in the late twentieth century is well known, the role that the study of tumor viruses has played in driving many of the greatest breakthroughs is not. Without the insights gained by studying tumor viruses, many significant theoretical advancements over the last four decades in cellular and molecular biology would not have been made. More practically, the study of tumor viruses has saved thousands, if not millions, of lives. In Cancer Virus Hunters, Gregory J. Morgan traces the high points in the development of tumor virology, from Peyton Rous's pioneering work on chicken tumors in 1909 to the successful development of an HPV vaccine for cervical cancer in 2006. Morgan offers a novel approach to understanding the interconnectedness of a long series of biomedical breakthroughs, including those that led to seven Nobel prizes. Among other advances, Morgan describes and contextualizes the science that prompted the discoveries of reverse transcriptase, RNA splicing, the tumor suppressor p53, the vaccine for hepatitis B, and the HIV test. He also explores how "cancer virus hunters" have demonstrated the virtue of beginning with a simple system, even when investigating a complex disease like cancer. Based on extensive archival research and over fifty interviews with experts, Cancer Virus Hunters is a tour de force summarizing a century of research to show how discoveries made with tumor viruses came to dominate the contemporary understanding of cancer. By showcasing the scientists themselves, the book makes for an unusually accessible journey through the history of science. It will be of interest to biomedical professionals—especially in oncology, hepatology, and infectious disease—in addition to historians of science and anyone interested in cancer research.
Author : Robin Wolfe Scheffler
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 391 pages
File Size : 46,66 MB
Release : 2019-06-15
Category : Medical
ISBN : 022662837X
Is cancer a contagious disease? In the late nineteenth century this idea, and attending efforts to identify a cancer “germ,” inspired fear and ignited controversy. Yet speculation that cancer might be contagious also contained a kernel of hope that the strategies used against infectious diseases, especially vaccination, might be able to subdue this dread disease. Today, nearly one in six cancers are thought to have an infectious cause, but the path to that understanding was twisting and turbulent. A Contagious Cause is the first book to trace the century-long hunt for a human cancer virus in America, an effort whose scale exceeded that of the Human Genome Project. The government’s campaign merged the worlds of molecular biology, public health, and military planning in the name of translating laboratory discoveries into useful medical therapies. However, its expansion into biomedical research sparked fierce conflict. Many biologists dismissed the suggestion that research should be planned and the idea of curing cancer by a vaccine or any other means as unrealistic, if not dangerous. Although the American hunt was ultimately fruitless, this effort nonetheless profoundly shaped our understanding of life at its most fundamental levels. A Contagious Cause links laboratory and legislature as has rarely been done before, creating a new chapter in the histories of science and American politics.
Author : Robert C. Gallo
Publisher : Basic Books
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 19,38 MB
Release : 1993-08-18
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780465098156
The renowned AIDS researcher Robert Gallo tells his story of scientific breakthrough in a riveting portrait of the people, the politics, and the pace of modern scientific discovery.
Author : Nathan Wolfe
Publisher : Macmillan
Page : 319 pages
File Size : 20,41 MB
Release : 2011-10-11
Category : Health & Fitness
ISBN : 0805091947
"The "Indiana Jones" of virus hunters reveals the complex interactions between humans and viruses, and the threat from viruses that jump from species to species"-- Provided by publisher.
Author : Jessica Wapner
Publisher : The Experiment, LLC
Page : 345 pages
File Size : 27,89 MB
Release : 2014-04-08
Category : Health & Fitness
ISBN : 1615191658
One of The Wall Street Journal’s 10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year Philadelphia, 1959: A scientist scrutinizing a single human cell under a microscope detects a missing piece of DNA. That scientist, David Hungerford, had no way of knowing that he had stumbled upon the starting point of modern cancer research— the Philadelphia chromosome. It would take doctors and researchers around the world more than three decades to unravel the implications of this landmark discovery. In 1990, the Philadelphia chromosome was recognized as the sole cause of a deadly blood cancer, chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML. Cancer research would never be the same. Science journalist Jessica Wapner reconstructs more than forty years of crucial breakthroughs, clearly explains the science behind them, and pays tribute—with extensive original reporting, including more than thirty-five interviews—to the dozens of researchers, doctors, and patients with a direct role in this inspirational story. Their curiosity and determination would ultimately lead to a lifesaving treatment unlike anything before it. The Philadelphia Chromosome chronicles the remarkable change of fortune for the more than 70,000 people worldwide who are diagnosed with CML each year. It is a celebration of a rare triumph in the battle against cancer and a blueprint for future research, as doctors and scientists race to uncover and treat the genetic roots of a wide range of cancers.
Author : Siddhartha Mukherjee
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 624 pages
File Size : 15,38 MB
Release : 2011-08-09
Category : Health & Fitness
ISBN : 1439170916
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a documentary from Ken Burns on PBS, this New York Times bestseller is “an extraordinary achievement” (The New Yorker)—a magnificent, profoundly humane “biography” of cancer—from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control, and conquer it to a radical new understanding of its essence. Physician, researcher, and award-winning science writer, Siddhartha Mukherjee examines cancer with a cellular biologist’s precision, a historian’s perspective, and a biographer’s passion. The result is an astonishingly lucid and eloquent chronicle of a disease humans have lived with—and perished from—for more than five thousand years. The story of cancer is a story of human ingenuity, resilience, and perseverance, but also of hubris, paternalism, and misperception. Mukherjee recounts centuries of discoveries, setbacks, victories, and deaths, told through the eyes of his predecessors and peers, training their wits against an infinitely resourceful adversary that, just three decades ago, was thought to be easily vanquished in an all-out “war against cancer.” The book reads like a literary thriller with cancer as the protagonist. Riveting, urgent, and surprising, The Emperor of All Maladies provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of cancer treatments. It is an illuminating book that provides hope and clarity to those seeking to demystify cancer.
Author : Paul W. Ewald
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 24,95 MB
Release : 2000
Category : Chronic diseases
ISBN : 0684869004
"In Plague Time, Ewald puts forth an astonishing and profound argument that challenges our modern beliefs about disease: it is germs - not genes - that mold our lives and cause our deaths. Building on the recently recognized infectious origins of ulcers, miscarriages, and cancers, he draws together a startling collection of discoveries that now implicate infection in the most destructive chronic diseases of our time, such as heart disease, Alzheimer's, and schizophrenia."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Author : Robert Bazell
Publisher : Random House
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 39,56 MB
Release : 2011-04-27
Category : Health & Fitness
ISBN : 0307764982
Two years after she underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy, Barbara Bradfield's aggressive breast cancer had recurred and spread to her lungs. The outlook was grim. Then she took part in Genentech's clinical trials for a new drug. Five years later she remains cancer-free. Her-2 is the biography of Herceptin, the drug that provoked dramatic responses in Barbara Bradfield and other women in the trials and that offers promise for hundreds of thousands of breast cancer patients. Unlike chemotherapy or radiation, Herceptin has no disabling side effects. It works by inactivating Her-2/neu--a protein that makes cancer cells grow especially quickly-- produced by a gene found in 25 to 30 percent of all breast tumors. Herceptin caused some patients' cancers to disappear completely; in others, it slowed the progression of the disease and gave the women months or years they wouldn't otherwise have had. Herceptin is the first treatment targeted at a gene defect that gives rise to cancer. It marks the beginning of a new era of treatment for all kinds of cancers. Robert Bazell presents a riveting account of how Herceptin was born. Her-2 is a story of dramatic discoveries and strong personalities, showing the combination of scientific investigation, money, politics, ego, corporate decisions, patient activism, and luck involved in moving this groundbreaking drug from the lab to a patient's bedside. Bazell's deft portraits introduce us to the remarkable people instrumental in Herceptin's history, including Dr. Dennis Slamon, the driven UCLA oncologist who played the primary role in developing the treatment; Lily Tartikoff, wife of television executive Brandon Tartikoff, who tapped into Hollywood money and glamour to help fund Slamon's research; and Marti Nelson, who inspired the activists who lobbied for a "compassionate use" program that would allow women outside the clinical trials to have access to the limited supplies of Herceptin prior to FDA approval of the drug. And throughout there are the stories of the heroic women with advanced breast cancer who volunteered for the trials, risking what time they had left on an unproven treatment. Meticulously researched, written with clarity and compassion, Her-2 is masterly reporting on cutting-edge science.
Author : Robert C. Gallo
Publisher :
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 11,53 MB
Release : 1991-05-15
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN :
Examines the discovery of AIDS and other notable discoveries, Gallo's investigation by the NIH, and provides a personal chronicle of the scientist's life.
