Dr. Daniel D. Federman is the Senior Dean for Alumni Relations and Clinical Teaching and the Carl W. Walter Distinguished
Professor of Medicine and Medical Education at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Judah Folkman is Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor of Pediatric Surgery and professor of anatomy and cellular biology at
Harvard Medical School, and surgeon-in-chief emeritus and director of the surgical research laboratories at Children's Hospital.
Dr. Folkman describes the process of capillary growth of tumors, and offers a hopeful vision of treatment through the use
of angiogenesis inhibitors combined with pre-cancer testing through the tracing of biomarkers in the blood.
Describing the process of angiogenesis as the rapid growth of new capillary blood vessels in a tumor, Dr. Folkman offers
a glimpse into clinical trials of anti-angiogenesis inhibiting drugs. Since solid tumors are dependent upon new capillary sprouts for
their growth, states Dr. Folkman, anti-angiogenesis drugs prevent new vessel sprouts from penetrating into the early tumor.
Furthermore, since biomarkers in the blood can trace pre-operable cancer growth, non-toxic angiogenesis inhibitor drugs
may be used to treat cancer before treatment with radiation or chemotherapy is necessary.
Dr. Folkman closes his presentation with a description of research showing that the resistance of Down syndrome patients
to most cancers could be caused by their elevated levels of the protein endostatin. Due to their anti-angiogenic properties,
endostatin-based medications, such as the anti-arthritis dug Celebrex, might provide effective tumor-reducing treatments.
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