• Affects one out of four Americans.
• Kills more children ages three to fourteen than any other disease.
• Strikes three out of four families.

PROGRESS IN MEDICAL RESEARCH

Cancer exists in more than 100 forms. It affects people, animals and plants. Somehow, the natural gates that limit cell growth unhinge, and cells spill out dividing and multiplying uncontrollably. In some cancers the cells become solid tumors that may interfere with organ function; in others, such as the leukemias, abnormal cells poor into the blood stream or body liuids, weakening a number of body systems. Parts of the initial tumor can also break off and invade distant areas of the body.

How has animal research helped cancer patients?

In the 1930's fewer than one in live people with cancer was alive live years after treatment. Today, almost half of those with cancer live at least live years, many of them apparently cured. This dramatic progress is largely due to careful research using animals. More than 30 anti-cancer drugs are used routinely to treat cancer. By law these drugs must be rigorously tested on animals before approval for human use. Development of radiation therapy techniques and treatment strategies has been aided by studies involving several animal species. Many surgical procedures for cancer were developed and perfected on dogs and monkeys as well as other animal species. Animals, too, are vulnerable to cancers and have benefited directly from research. At Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine, animal research helped to test the drug cisplatin, one of the most widely used anti-cancer drugs in the world. When animals are studied and treated for cancer, many are cured. Many human cancers will grow in a special type of mice that are immunologically deficient. Experimental treatments can be tested against these cancers in vivo before application to humans. In the process, researchers learn more about particular forms of human cancer.

What's ahead for cancer patients?

Finding the causes of cancer poses one of this century's major medical challenges. There has been tremendous progress in treating leukemia and skin cancer. However, many questions about the growth and behavior of normal and tumor cells remain. Animal studies can be used to answer these questions. At the University of Michigan research with rabbits, rats, and rhesus monkeys is helping to develop antibodies as tools to study cancer biology. Animal studies at the Michigan Cancer Foundation, operating the Myer L. Prentis Cancer Center, are being conducted on the biology, causation, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of various types of cancers. At Henry Ford Hospital, mice are being used to study photo therapy for treating various tumors. Research using animal colonies exposed to potential carcinogens can help prevent needless human exposure to industrial and environmental cancer-causing agents. Studies of the effects of diet and vitamins on cancer in laboratory animals also hold much promise.

Cancer is costly; physically, emotionally, economically. The high rate of progress in cancer diagnosis, treatment and prevention must continue until the disease is conquered.