Cancer act shares 25th with marathon

It's easy to see how the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon has progressed during the past 25 years of its existence -- the money it has raised, the children it has helped and the hard work and time many students have put into it all contribute to its success.

Much of today's knowledge of cancer is attributed to an event that is also celebrating its 25th anniversary -- The National Cancer Act.

After years of studies, it was determined that a national effort against cancer was necessary. Signed by former President Richard Nixon in December 1971, the act began a national surge for cancer research that pushed for a greater knowledge of cancer, as well as federally funded cancer resources to apply this knowledge. By tracing the direction that cancer research has taken since the act was signed, it is evident that cancer research has become an everyday topic in today's society.

"We've come a lot closer to the understanding the genetic basis," said Caroline McNeil, spokesperson for the National Cancer Institute. "That understanding has certainly come in the past 25 years and all of the research has come from there."

The National Cancer Act facilitated cancer centers and programs that were able to translate research results into everyday medical practices, and made cancer-related information more available to the public. Fifteen cancer centers were originally built under this act, but there are now 57 designated cancer centers around the nation.

The passage of the act created the National Cancer Program -- an expanded division of the already existent National Cancer Institute. It is through this program that many biomedical researchers were funded to direct their work toward cancer research. Progress in cancer research in the United States has boomed in recent years, said Elise Givant, oncology research nurse at the University's Hershey Medical Center.

"Years ago we didn't talk about it," Givant said. "If someone got cancer it was like, 'Shh, Shh, don't go near her.' We've come out of the closet somewhat."

Technological advances soared in the mid-'70s with techniques developed for cloning genes. In 1975, the Southern blot technique that identified DNA fragments was developed, as was the first methods to sequence DNA.

Genetic development made its way through the research labs when the most frequently mutated gene in human cancer was discovered in 1979. Tumor research in that same year showed that metastatic cells could arise from primary tumors. The discovery and cloning of human genes continued to push cancer research along and is still being researched today. More recently, the first human gene therapy for melanoma cancer was discovered in 1991.

In terms of treatment, the first human cancer vaccine, (hepatitis B virus vaccine for liver cancer), was first used in 1981. Treatment surgeries, such as the prostatectomy and mastectomy, were modified to preserve natural functions and appearances in the mid-'80s.

Chemotherapy became a familiar word in the late '80s when it became a known fact that chemotherapy, which can be taken by injection, intravenous or orally, could kill cancer cells.

"Chemotherapy is a poison," Givant said. "It's a poison that we give to people that is supposed to kill cancer cells. The problem is that it also kills good cells. Hopefully, we kill more of the cancer cells."

Anticancer drugs came into the medical market throughout the '70s with the Food and Drug Administration approval of several medications including Doxorubicin, Cisplatin and Tomaxifen. During the '90s, Levamisole, Paclitaxel and Topotecan were also approved as anticancer drugs.

In addition to treatment, detection and diagnosis technology continued to develop. The Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was introduced in the early '80s. MRI's are important in detecting cancer without operating on the patient. Mammography technology also improved when regulations were set by the Mammography Quality Standards Act in 1992.

"We don't have to surgically open a patient to see that they have a disease," Givant said. "It saves patient surgeries."

But the target in cancer research has switched from killing cancer cells to preventing their spread and reproduction. To this end scientists are studying the signal pathways that lead to cell division in a hope that they will find out why some cells divide unexpectedly. If scientists are able to develop a way to stop this division, then the spread of some cancers could be stopped.

Along with research, cancer information and services started all over the nation. From the first national cancer patient education program, "I Can Cope", founded in 1977, to the Human Gene Mapping database in 1989, cancer has gone from a mystery deformity to a sequence of mutations that leads to rapid growth of inappropriate cells.

Prevention has become a more apparent division of cancer research in recent years. Dietary guidelines to reduce cancer risks were introduced in 1984. National Cancer Institute studies in 1991 showed the importance of nutrition in preventing cancer. Studies and campaigns against tobacco and their direct relation to cancer gained attention in the early '90s.

"It's hard to prevent something when you don't know what causes it," Givant said. "Early detection is the key. There's a genetic factor to this that we haven't figured out yet, so we can't totally prevent it."