p53 (34 page)
Authors: Sue Armstrong
Chapter 20:The Treatment Revolution
The epigraph comes from Sharon Begley’s article ‘The Cancer Killer’ in
Newsweek
, January 13, 1997.
This chapter relied heavily on the book
p53 in the clinic
, edited by Pierre Hainaut, Magali Olivier and Klas Wiman (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer, 2013).
Other important sources were:
p53-based Cancer Therapy
by David P. Lane, Chit Fang Cheok and Sonia Lain, in
Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology
, 2010, 2: a001222. See
http://cshperspectives.cshlp.org
.
‘Cancer Specific Viruses and the Development of ONYX- 015’ by Frank McCormick, in
Cancer Biology & Therapy
2, Suppl. 1, 2003, 157-160.
‘Clinical Trials with Oncolytic Adenovirus in China’ by Wang Yu and Hu Fang, in
Current Cancer Drug Targets
, 2007, 7, 659–670.
‘MDM2 antagonist Nutlin-3a potentiates antitumour activity of cytotoxic drugs in sarcoma cell lines’ by Hege O. Ohnstad
et al.
in
BMC Cancer
2011, 11, 211.
‘An evaluation of small-molecule p53 activators as chemoprotectants ameliorating adverse effects of anticancer drugs in normal cells’ by Ingeborg M. M. van Leeuwen
et al.
in
Cell Cycle
, 2012, 11, 1851-61.
‘Cyclotherapy: opening a therapeutic window in cancer treatment’ by Ingeborg M. M. van Leeuwen, in
Oncotarget,
2012, 3, 596–600.
Talk by Gerard Evan, entitled ‘Cancer isn’t mysterious’, to staff at Cancer Research UK in September 2012. Available at
www.frequency.com/video/cruk-passion-ta/59881838
.
This book might never have got off the ground if the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland had not been prepared to support the proposition that even the toughest
science deserves a popular audience. I am extremely grateful for their financial contribution to my research, and for the enthusiasm of the board for the project. In particular I should like to
thank Peter Hall, who first suggested this book and who sat with me for a couple of days in his office at Queen’s University, Belfast, drawing up a timeline for the history of p53, and
Alastair Burt and Simon Herrington, who championed the idea with the Path Soc committee.
My sincere thanks are due also to the following people: Anna Day of Dundee University, who got the project under way; The Society of Authors, whose research bursary enabled me to set off on my
travels; my agent, Donald Winchester of Watson Little Ltd, for his quiet encouragement, sure instinct and always good advice; Jim Martin of Bloomsbury Sigma for his enthusiasm and commitment to the
story and my editor Caroline Taggart for her keen eyes and good suggestions; Suzanne Cherney, one of the best editors WHO ever had, for her skilful reading of the manuscript and excellent comments
(and as much as anything for the long friendship and the laughter); my friend and fellow writer Claire Bell for her support during the writing and wise feedback at a critical moment; my translators
in Brazil, Fernanda Paschoal Fortes (who introduced me to
caipirinhas
!) and Henrique Campos Galvão; and Elizabeth Garret for her generous hospitality at the perfect writer’s
retreat, Cliff Cottage on the ragged Aberdeenshire coast. Special thanks are due also to my partner, Fred Bridgland, whose
constant support, listening ear and understanding
of a fellow writer’s obsession are deeply appreciated.
I am hugely grateful to the many scientists who gave me their time and shared with me something of their personal journeys in science and the highs and lows of their research. Among them I owe a
particular debt of gratitude to Pierre Hainaut, without whose advice, guidance and readiness to clarify some extremely complex science from time to time I would have struggled mightily. My
understanding of the p53 story was greatly enhanced by conversation and communication with a number of people whose names do not appear in these pages, and to whom I extend my thanks. They include
Walter Bodmer, Jean-Christophe Bourdon, Xin Lu, David Meek, Thea Tlsty, Karen Vousden and Geoff Wahl. I am grateful also to the following for their kind permission to use short quotations of theirs
from other sources: Suzy Baker, Bill Bryson, Judith Campisi, Richard Lockshin, Matt Ridley and Bob Weinberg.
Finally, I should like to express my special thanks to Luana Locke, John Berkeley and the families affected by Li-Fraumeni syndrome in Brazil whose poignant stories of life in the shadow of
cancer shift the focus of attention from the scientists’ laboratories to the outside world, and serve to underline just how important p53 research is to us all.
Sue Armstrong, August 2014
1
. A free database of references to papers on life sciences and biomedical topics set up in 1996]
2
. When the electron microscope was developed in 1931, virus particles could be seen for the first time.
3
. ‘A virus is nothing but a package of genes inside some proteins. So whether it’s alive or not is kind of
debatable. It’s either a kind of a complex chemical or a very simple life form,’ says Jeffery Taubenberger, Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the
National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland.
4
. A postdoctoral scholar (‘postdoc’) is an individual with a doctoral degree who’s engaged in a temporary
period of mentored research and/or scholarly training in order to acquire the professional skills needed for his or her future career.
5
. The others were teams led by Mariano Barbacid at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, and Michael Wigler at Cold Spring
Harbor.
6
. A somatic mutation is a mutation in a mature cell that has occurred spontaneously during the course of life, as opposed to a
mutation that is inherited and will be present in all the cells, both normal and cancerous.
7
. The read-out of a procedure that looks at isolated bits of DNA.
8
. In fact, the first ever transgenic mouse was created in 1982 by Richard Palmiter and Ralph Brinster working at the
Universities of Washington and Pennsylvania respectively. But genetic modification was made a great deal easier and more precise by the technology that won Capecchi and Smithies their Nobel
Prize.
9
. A lipoprotein is a combination of a fat and protein molecule. The protein helps to transport fat to where it is needed in
the body.
Also available in the Bloomsbury Sigma series:
Sex on Earth
by Jules Howard
First published in 2014
This electronic edition published in 2014 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Copyright © 2014 Sue Armstrong
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