Word: myeloma
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...that it is just one of several cancers that affect a class of white blood cells called B-cells; collectively these cancers strike 35,000 Americans a year. Says Golomb: "This may be a window into a family of disorders." Interferon has already proved useful in treating multiple myeloma, a B-cell-related cancer of the bone marrow that annually afflicts more than 8,000 Americans...
...much higher risks than urban dwellers of developing and dying from six types of cancer. Analyzing the death certificates of more than 20,000 white male lowans, Dr. Leon Burmeister and his colleagues found that prostate, stomach, lymph gland and lip cancer, as well as leukemia and multiple myeloma (a form of bone marrow cancer), occurred up to three times more frequently among farmers...
...flew to Sweden to observe Strander's work, and soon became a convert. Says he: "There was no question. He was having good results." Back home, Gutterman obtained money from a private foundation to buy enough Finnish IF to try it on 38 patients with advanced breast cancer, multiple myeloma or lymphoma. Again the results were encouraging. Seven of 17 breast cancer patients had positive results, as did six of ten with myeloma and six of eleven with lymphoma...
...victim is in remission after 15 months of interferon therapy. Gutterman also reports a wide range of sensitivity among patients, some showing improvement within 48 to 72 hours and a 50% reduction in the size of their tumors within three to four weeks after IF therapy. One patient with myeloma received interferon for three months with no apparent effect. But one month after the treatment ended, his tumor began to shrink. Presumably IF had had a delayed effect...
Today's IF test subjects must meet highly specific requirements, called "protocols." For example, eligible participants might include 1) breast-cancer patients, but only if surgery and radiotherapy have failed to halt the disease, 2) myeloma victims, and 3) patients with types of lymphoma that do not respond well to conventional treatment. The choice is also usually made from among patients already under treatment at a center where interferon is being tested...