[.ca] Dr. Folkman's War: Angiogenesis and the Struggle to ... (ISBN 0812974840)

From Amazon.com:
Early in 1998, New York Times science reporter and author Gina Kolata happened to be seated at a banquet next to the Nobel Prize-winning scientist James Watson. When Kolata asked Watson what was new in the world of science, he replied, "Judah Folkman and angiogenesis, that's what's new. Judah is going to cure cancer in two years." Folkman, a longtime physician and medical researcher at Harvard University and Children's Hospital, was caught off guard by the excited news reports that followed Watson's remark, but there was good reason for excitement. For nearly four decades, when not busy doing such things as inventing the heart pacemaker and attending to hundreds of patients, Folkman had been puzzling out a peculiarity of tumors: at some point during their formation, they sent forth chemical signals that in effect "recruited" blood vessels to feed them. If those signals could be intercepted through well-targeted drugs, Folkman reasoned, and the blood supply to cancerous formations thus interrupted, then the tumors themselves might be starved to death, or at least to dormancy. In this book, Newsday writer Robert Cooke offers an accessible account of Folkman's work on angiogenesis, or the formation of blood vessels, which may well point the way to new treatments for cancer and related illnesses. Following Folkman's roundabout trail, one marked by considerable resistance on the part of doubtful colleagues, readers will gain a sense of how medical research is conducted--and, almost certainly, a sense of wonder at the medical breakthroughs that, as James Watson hinted, are just around the corner. --Gregory McNamee

interesting story, but ......:
I work in this field of research. I do like the story of the persistance and creativity of Judah Folkman. However, the author stumbles in describing some of the science and the intellectual contributions of others that led to some of the Folkman lab's discoveries. After reading the reviewers' praise for Mr. Cooke's "detailed research " on the book's back cover, I was diappointed by some obvious errors in the book. I believe that most of the innaccuracies are the unfortunate result of the author's failure to corroborate all of his facts. He may have been in a hurry to get the book out, but I wish that he had taken a little more time to get the science and other facts straight.

Impressive science and persistence in the face of adversity:
Dr. Folkman is my kind of doctor and my kind of researcher. The science establishment in this country has always had a major problem with people who are different, whether they think differently, or appear different (hence the rush by scientists to practice negative eugenics on people with disabilities). Folkman asked the questions that needed to be asked concerning cancer and tumor production, and in spite of all the negative reviews and downright nastiness of his scientific peers, he persisted in practicing good science. This ultimately led to major discoveries about how cancer works, as well as other necessary biochemical information that is now taught on a daily basis to medical research students in neuroscience and other fields. Folkman is one of those people who are in science and medicine for the benefits of others, as well as because he enjoys what he does. These are the types of people who ultimately do the most good. They quietly persist in their endeavors, and let their work tell the story. Too many times, scientists allow their questions and the answers to those questions to be influenced by the egos of their peers, the quest for fame and money (especially in biotechnology and genetics), and by fear of ridicule. It is unfortunate that so much science is done in labs throughout the world in such a way as to crush those who have unique ideas and can add creativity to the scientific endeavor. Folkman obviously made his lab a wonderful place to work in. To do that and be a good teacher, as well as an excellent researcher (who cares if he is a surgeon...it's the questions that are asked and researched that are important, not who does the asking). Those who were able to work with him and in his lab had valuable experiences, that happens all too rarely in the labs in this country. I was lucky in that I got mentors who were neuropathologists who dealt with both patients and research, and they were great teachers. Cooke is a wonderful writer. I intend to look for his other books because he did such a wonderful job with a topic which could have been boring. He explained the science behind angiogenesis in such a way so everyone can understand it. He also described the not-so-nice and competitive world of research science...nailed all the personalities involved! I had to laugh at much of this because I totally understood about the biased peer review and the political games which go on in this world. Karen Sadler, Science Education

From the Far East:
I am really impressed by "Dr. Folkman's War." Somewhat different excitement from '"Genome" by Matt Ridley. Dr. Folkman's broad mind and broad view of things are almost incredible. In the 'publish-or-perish' 'world of medicine, his broad-mindedness brought a great progress in the treatment of giant hemangioma, diabetic gangrene, diabetic retinopathy, or coronary heart disease, to say nothing of cancer therapy. Dr. Isner's comment about Dr. folkaman is intriguing. "Plenty of other people in that position, had they reviewed that paper, would have rejected it and then set their own laboratories to work on that subject, or they would maybe have stalled the paper, or done anything they could to have stomped out any potential competition. But he did just the opposite. He promoted it." He was never territorial or overly protective of this field he had invented and happy to help other scientists push ahead, even if they were competitors. He must be the ideal "Boss".

Dr. Folkman is my hero -- a story better than SeaBiscuit!:
This book by Robert Cooke is incredible! Mr. Cooke is able to explain to the average layperson the medical concepts of angeiogeneis conceived by the most under-valued person of our time: Dr. Judah Folkman. Dr. Folkman is to cancer what Salk was to Polio! Personally, Dr. Judah Folkman is my hero! A real hero, deserving of the Nobel Prize....and I don't speak lightly. I am a cancer patient that has recently learned that my cancer (thought was beat) has advanced to my lungs. The ONLY therapy for me is in an ANGIOGENESIS drug therapy program for a drug currently in study and labeled as "PI-88." I am just so confident this drug will work. I am the only patient with my type of cancer cell (adenoid cystic carninoma), so I am a little bit more of a lab rat for this program. God Bless Dr. Folkman and h is incredible perserverance! His story should be a movie----a tale better than SeaBiscuit! He is my SeaBiscuit! LHH

Cure for cancer?:
Chances are someone close to you has succumbed to the ravages of cancer, while you and the medical establishment could only sit by and watch the process reach its inevitable conclusion. The good news is, for nearly 40 years, Dr. Judah Folkman has been pursuing a cure for cancer -- or at least a way to fight tumors more effectively than chemotherapy or radiation -- that only until very recently has garnered serious attention. Dr. Folkman's theory is called angiogenesis, the process by which cancer cells emit an agent which triggers the growth of blood vessels to feed the growth of the cancer itself. For years Dr. Folkman's idea was basically scoffed at as the flailings of an amateur researcher, but Cooke shows how Dr. Folkman has perservered -- while maintaining his brilliant career as a physician -- and eventually, through a slow accumulation of experimental evidence, as well as the discovery of several antiangionesis agents, turned opinion around. Throughout this engaging and fascinating retelling of Folkman's journey, Cooke also provides an eye-opening account of the workings of academia, medical research, and their relationships to those Orwellian biotech companies you keep hearing about. The science is clear and vivid, the battle to defeat cancer inspiring, and the promise of victory -- thankfully, finally -- just around the corner.