Richard Nixon became the first U.S. president to visit China and created the Environmental Protection Agency — but when he signed the National Cancer Act into law in 1971, he vowed that this action would remain the iconic contribution of his presidency.
Forty years later, on Dec. 23, the nation will mark the anniversary of the opening salvo of the “War on Cancer.” And City of Hope scientists, physicians and other health-care professionals have factored significantly in its success.
The National Cancer Act increased funding and broadened the scope and responsibilities of the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, to more effectively carry out the national research fight against cancer. Michael A. Friedman, M.D., City of Hope’s president, chief executive officer and holder of the Irell & Manella Cancer Center Director’s Distinguished Chair, remembers those days well.
“I joined the National Cancer Institute in 1970 and had the opportunity to be in the metaphorical front lines of what is often referred to as the War on Cancer,” Friedman said. “Over the last 40 years, we have made significant progress that has led to increased survival rates.”
Scientists have learned that cancer encompasses hundreds of distinct diseases. These diseases are influenced by genes within the body and the environment outside it.
Discoveries made during these decades have saved lives: The American Association for Cancer Research reports a 22 percent drop in cancer deaths among men and a 14 percent drop among women in the past 20 years alone, resulting in nearly 900,000 fewer cancer-related deaths during that time.
Some significant cancer research breakthroughs occurred at City of Hope, such as work that led to a new generation of drugs. In 1983, City of Hope’s Arthur Riggs, Ph.D., and Shmuel Cabilly, Ph.D., working in collaboration with scientists at Genentech, first demonstrated that antibodies can be made using recombinant DNA technology — technology later used in the “smart” cancer drugs Herceptin, Rituxan and Avastin.
Another research advance was the definitive confirmation of the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. The medical establishment had long assumed a connection, but it remained unproven until 1996 when City of Hope’s Gerd Pfeifer, Ph.D., Lester M. and Irene C. Finkelstein Chair in Biology, discovered and described the cascade of molecular activity that conclusively tied smoking to cancer development.
City of Hope also was one of the first six centers in the country to perform bone marrow transplants, with the first procedure taking place in 1976. Early in 2011, the institution performed its 10,000th transplant, a milestone that only a few centers in the world have achieved. City of Hope’s Stephen J. Forman, M.D., Francis and Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, has helped advance and expand the procedure as a treatment option to an ever-growing population of cancer patients.
And these are just a few of the most visible achievements.
“We have much yet to do, and every day in our labs and clinics, our scientists, physicians and researchers, supported by all of our staff, are gathering data and making the findings that lead to new treatments,” Friedman said. “Most of our discoveries will never make the news, but they have made essential contributions that deliver on a 40-year-old promise to find answers for cancer patients.”
