History of Advances in Patient Care and Research at Dana-Farber
1940s and 1950s
In 1947, Sidney Farber, M.D. establishes the Children's Cancer Research Foundation, now Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, introducing the first research program in chemotherapy for children with cancer.
Dr. Farber and his team of clinicians and laboratory scientists are the first to attain temporary remissions of acute lymphocytic leukemia in children. Research that transfers new scientific knowledge "from the lab bench to the bedside" forms the foundation for future progress against cancer at the Institute.
Dr. Farber and colleagues achieve the first remissions in Wilms' tumor of the kidney, a common form of childhood cancer. By employing the antibiotic actinomycin D in addition to surgery and radiation therapy, they boost cure rates from 40 to 85 percent.
1960s
Researchers develop means to collect, preserve and transfuse blood-clotting factors called platelets to control bleeding, a critical step to combating this common side effect of cancer chemotherapy.
In 1969, the Children's Cancer Research Foundation charter is expanded to provide services for patients of all ages.
1970s
Studies involving pediatric and adult patients continue to demonstrate the effectiveness of using multiple drugs to cure many forms of cancer. Foundation leaders help to pioneer this strategy, known as combination chemotherapy.
Through more effective chemotherapy, researchers raise cure rates for some forms of adult non-Hodgkin's lymphoma to 60 percent.
Researchers increase the cure rate for a bone cancer known as osteogenic sarcoma from less than 15 percent to more than 60 percent. Use of chemotherapy in addition to surgery and/or radiation therapy reduces many tumors to operable size and may even render surgery unnecessary.
Researchers develop a combination therapy program for soft-tissue sarcomas, resulting in a 50 percent response rate.
By employing drugs in novel combinations, investigators improve survival for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, breast cancer and advanced testicular cancer. They also report the first cures for acute myelogenous leukemia and large cell lymphoma.
Researchers clone the gene RAS and demonstrate that, when mutated, this gene – the first known human oncogene – helps spur development of many common human tumors.
1980s
Having developed monoclonal antibodies to purge cancer cells from bone marrow, physician-researchers pioneer autologous ("self") bone marrow transplantation as a treatment for childhood leukemia. This procedure enables patients to tolerate extremely high doses of chemotherapy and radiation formulated to eradicate their disease.
Institute researchers employ autologous bone marrow transplantation to treat other cancers of the blood and immune system, including non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and multiple myeloma.
Researchers help identify the gene RB-1, essential for preventing retinoblastoma, a rare inheritable cancer of the eye, and shed light on how it works. The growth-controlling role of RB-1 and other "tumor-suppressor" genes in more common forms of cancer becomes the focus of scrutiny worldwide.
Researchers discover the first evidence that growth-related signaling pathways are composed of multiple oncogene products.
Dana-Farber's Breast Evaluation Center is established. Through this innovative clinic – a model for breast centers nationwide – oncologists, radiation therapists, surgeons, pathologists and other specialists work to advance breast cancer detection and treatment.
Researchers introduce the CA-125 blood test for ovarian cancer, used to monitor the progress of patients undergoing treatment. Later researchers devise a similar test for breast cancer, DF-3.
Dana-Farber immunologists identify the human T-cell receptor, a complex of molecules that enable immune cells to recognize foreign invaders.
Immunologists develop means to detect antigens on immune cells, making it possible to distinguish among different immune-cell cancers and devise specific treatments for them.
Researchers show that the immune system is turned "on" by helper T cells and "off" by suppressor T cells. The AIDS virus infects and destroys helper T cells, eventually rendering its host defenseless against disease.
Dana-Farber researchers identify a growth-controlling hormone called platelet-derived growth factor, or PDGF, believed to play a role in wound healing, and they implicate PDGF in a complex cascade of genetic interactions that lead to cancer.
Half of patients with head and neck cancers with a poor prognosis prove responsive to an aggressive program of chemotherapy, radiation and/or surgery developed by Institute researchers and their collaborators.
As of the late 1980s, two of every three children who enter the Jimmy Fund Clinic walk out cured, and more than half of all people with cancer are cured.
Researchers are among the first to suspect a relationship between the retrovirus that causes human T cell leukemia (HTLV–1) and the one that causes AIDS (HIV–1).
The multidisciplinary Brain Tumor Clinic is established in 1989 to accelerate progress against brain cancers in children and adults.
Researchers at Dana-Farber and their collaborators discover a cell-surface molecule that serves as the point of entry for viruses responsible for the common cold.
Scientists identify a key protein underlying genetic obesity, called adipsin. They determine that it is identical in structure and function to a protein of the immune system, casting new light on the underlying causes of obesity.
Institute scientists help pioneer development of a new generation of anti-cancer drugs, called immunotoxins, which deliver a potent poison to cancer cells via monoclonal antibodies, leaving normal cells unscathed.
Institute researchers help introduce the use of naturally occurring growth factors to spur recovery of patients' bone marrow following high-dose chemotherapy. To make bone marrow transplantation safer and more effective, they substitute for bone marrow a potent combination of young bone marrow cells (stem cells) and growth factors that spur their maturation.
1990s
Pointing to a flaw in a gene known as p53, researchers demonstrate that susceptibility to developing cancer can be passed from one generation to the next. The gene is discovered in families afflicted by the rare Li-Fraumeni syndrome, in which family members are at very high risk for developing tumors of the adrenal gland, breast, brain and soft tissues.
Dana-Farber and Sandoz Pharmaceutical Corporation (now known as Novartis) enter into a novel long-term collaboration to develop a new generation of potent anti-tumor agents based on scientists' understanding of the molecular missteps that lead to cancer.
The Cancer Risk and Prevention Clinic is created in 1992 to advance the early detection and prevention of breast cancer in women at high risk for the disease.
In 1993, the Women's Cancers Program is launched at Dana-Farber. This bold initiative aims to reduce the incidence of cancers of the breast, lung and gynecological and reproductive systems by bridging the gap between petri dish and patient. A National Advisory Council is formed to raise public awareness of the program.
Dana-Farber establishes the High Risk Research Clinic, one of the nation's first genetic testing programs for members of families with an inherited susceptibility to cancer. The program aims to identify individuals at risk and provide genetic and psychological counseling.
Scientists discover a group of genes that raise susceptibility to a common inherited form of colon cancer and several other malignancies. The finding reveals an entirely new mechanism for cancer's development. It also raises hopes for saving thousands of lives by screening individuals at high risk for the disease.
With Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Dana-Farber launches Dana-Farber/Partners Cancer Care, a new collaboration in adult cancer that combines the strengths and resources of these world-renowned institutions.
Scientists at Dana-Farber find a relationship between a small, repeating section of DNA and the aggressiveness of prostate cancer. The finding may lead to diagnostic tests capable of determining which patients can benefit from surgery or other treatment options, and which are best served by "watchful waiting."
Dana-Farber forms a task force to consider whether complementary therapies such as acupuncture, massage, meditation and herbal medicine should be integrated into the clinical services provided at the Institute. The task force spearheaded the creation of the Zakim Center for Integrative Therapies, which makes complementary therapies available to Dana-Farber patients while conducting formal research into such therapies' effectiveness.
Researchers at Dana-Farber and Brigham and Women's Hospital report that a diabetes drug can cause tumor cells in one variety of liposarcoma – a fat cell cancer – to grow more slowly. It is the first time that scientists have succeeded in causing solid tumor cells to mature, or "differentiate," to a state where they behave more like normal cells.
Building on insights into the functioning of the human immune system, Institute researchers devise a way to neutralize immune system cells responsible for graft-versus-host-disease, a potentially dangerous side effect of organ and tissue transplants. The discovery points the way to the creation of a universal donor pool for organ and tissue transplantation and may one-day free transplant recipients from the need to take powerful anti-rejection drugs.
2000s
Dana-Farber researchers and colleagues at affiliated hospitals announce the results of the first human study of Endostatin™ Protein, a drug that seeks to reduce tumors by cutting off their blood supply. The investigators report that the drug is safe even in high doses and that, in some cases, it halted the progress of advanced cancers. Evidence of the drug's effectiveness as a long-term therapy awaits further study.
Dana-Farber researchers find that a drug that achieved striking success against chronic myelogenous leukemia can shrink and even eliminate tumors in some patients with a rare and otherwise incurable form of gastrointestinal cancer called GIST. Initial development work on the drug, known as STI571 (Gleevec), was performed at Dana-Farber.
Investigators studying a rare disease called Fanconi anemia discover that genes linked to the disorder are involved in switching on BRCA1, a gene that, when defective, is the most common source of inherited breast cancer.
Dana-Farber researchers find that Gleevec, a targeted therapy that achieved striking success against chronic myelogenous leukemia, can shrink and even eliminate tumors in some patients with a rare and otherwise incurable digestive-tract cancer called gastrointestinal stromal tumor.
Scientists at Dana-Farber and the Whitehead Institute find a gene "signature" in several types of tumors that suggests they are likely to spread to other parts of the body, potentially leading to tests for determining whether tumors have the potential to metastasize.
Dana-Farber scientists report that the drug gefitinib produces dramatic benefits in non-small cell lung cancer patients who carry an abnormal version of a key protein, a potentially life-saving discovery for tens of thousands of patients around the world every year.
