Stehlin Foundation
Celebrates 30 Years of Hope and Healing
THIRTY
YEARS AGO THIS MAY, Dr.John Stehlin and Dr.Beppino Giovanella
performed their first experiment together at the Stehlin Foundation
for Cancer Research.
The Foundation
was in its infancy and operating out of a small laboratory
in the maternity ward at St.Joseph Hospital. Money was tight.
The Stehlin Foundation had about $90,000 in the bank. But
from these humble beginnings, and under the leadership of
Dr.Stehlin, Dr.Giovanella and executive director Bobby Anderson,
the Foundation created a legacy of hope and healing. Since
its start, the Foundation has devoted more than $45 million
to cancer research. Countless people are alive today because
of the research and ideas developed during the early years
of the Stehlin Foundation.
In celebration
of the Foundation ’s 30th anniversary, we share some
highlights of the last three decades:
Tripartnership
 |
| Tripartnership |
Dr.Stehlin
established the Foundation on the philosophy of tripartnership,
in which the patient, scientist and physician work together
to provide the best treatment.The concept of total patient
care joins compassionate attention to the patient ’s
emotional health with the most advanced combination of various
therapies, including surgery, chemotherapy, irradiation, hyperthermia,
immunotherapy and psychotherapy.At the time Dr.Stehlin developed
the tripartnership philosophy, his colleagues considered it
a radical idea. Doctors were told to keep some emotional distance
from their patients. Dr.Stehlin felt otherwise.
"A
warm smile, a few friendly remarks, and an unhurried willingness
on the part of the physician to let the patient tell his story
will go far toward relieving the latter ’s tension and
creating a meaningful relationship, "wrote Dr.Stehlin
in a 1966 Journal of the American Medical Association article.
The Foundation
’s research and medical staff passionately share Dr.
Stehlin ’s views on tripartnership. Most develop long
professional relationships with the Foundation as a result.
The average tenure of the staff is more than 15 years.
The Foundation
was among the first to recognize the importance of addressing
the psychological needs of cancer patients, establishing the
Living Room at St.Joseph Hospital in 1980 as a proto type
for cancer centers throughout the world. The Living Room is
a special area on the oncology unit at St.Joseph Hospital
where patients can enjoy music, art, games, parties, videos
and other entertainment with family and friends. Psychotherapists,
clergy, nurses and other counselors are available to assist
patients and their families.
The Nude Mouse
Model
 |
| Nude
Mouse |
The first
significant breakthrough in research methodology for the Foundation
came in the early 1970s, when Dr.Giovanella became one of
the first scientists to implant human tumors into nude mice.
Nude mice are ideal laboratory animals because their immune
systems are weak and can not fight tumors. The Foundation
established that if an anticancer drug works against a human
tumor implanted in the nude mouse,85 percent of the time the
drug also will be effective in treating the human patient.
The Foundation
has completed 500 tumor transplants in mice since the program’s
inception. Nude mice are a central component of the Foundation’s
past success and will continue to be a vital part of experiments
on camptothecin and the development of other derivatives.
As a result of Dr.Giovanella’s work, the nude mouse now
represents the final non-human studies required by the National
Cancer Institute for determining the effective- ness of anticancer
agents. Several human cancers used by the NCI for testing
potential anticancer agents originated in the Foundation’s
laboratory.
Important Firsts
in Cancer Treatment
•
Unlike the vast majority of cancer research conducted on tumors
arising in laboratory animals, all laboratory work of the
Foundation is conducted on cancers removed from patients.
The Foundation remains one of the few research laboratories
in the world limiting its investigations to human cancers.
 |
| Partial
Mastectomy |
•
Foundation surgeons in 1970 were among the first in North
America to recommend conservative treatment of selected breast
cancer patients with a combination of partial mastectomy,
also called lumpectomy, and immediate reconstruction followed
by radiotherapy. Partial mastectomy results in survival rates
equal to radical mastectomy, without mutilation and severe
psychological consequences. The National Cancer Institute
named partial mastectomy its "treatment of choice "in
1990,confirming a 25-year study by Foundation clinicians and
researchers.
 |
| Heat
Perfusion |
•
Dr. Stehlin was the first to combine heat (hyperthermia) and
chemotherapy for the treatment of advanced melanoma of the
arms and legs, resulting in a 300 percent increase in survival
rates and virtually eliminating the need for amputation.
 |
| Liver
Cancer |
•
The Foundation conducted one of the largest studies of liver
cancer ever reported in medical literature. The study, published
in The Annals of Surgery in 1988, involved 414 of the Foundation’s
patients.
•
The Foundation ’s physicians were the leaders in the
development of regional intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy,
in which large concentrations of anticancer drugs are delivered
directly to specific organs or areas of the body affected
by cancer.
Camptothecins
 |
Camptothecin
Acuminata
grows in Houston |
The Foundation
’s success with camptothecins, a promising family of
anticancer drugs, marks the latest success in the organization
’s long history of innovative research. Foundation research
scientists were among an international group of scientists
who resurrected in interest in the anticancer potential of
camptothecins after the drugs were abandoned for more than
20 years. The Foundation also was the first in the country
to test camptothecin in human clinical trials, resulting in
the development of rubitecan, a camptothecin derivative effective
in treating pancreatic cancer. The average life span for a
person with panreatic cancer is four to five months. Eleven
patients with pancreatic cancer have survived at least two
years after being treated with rubitecan at the Foundation.
SuperGen, Inc., the pharmaceutical corporation marketing rubitecan,
is conducting Phase III clinical trials on the drug in 200
sites across the country with approximately 1,000 patients.
Researchers at the Foundation believe camptothecins also may
be effective on other cancers.
Investing in the
Future
 |
Stehlin
Educational
Scholarship Program |
The fight
against cancer requires the best and brightest of each generation.
Started in 1980,the Stehlin Educational Scholarship Program
provides practical experience and financial support to high
school and college students interested in pursuing careers
as physicians, research scientists and other health care professionals.
The Foundation selects only a few students each year from
hundreds of applicants. Nearly 200 students have participated
in the program since its inception. Many former interns go
on to become well- respected scientists and doctors.
Continuing the
Foundation’s Legacy
Thanks
to generous donations over the past 30 years, the Foundation
has conducted groundbreaking research and implemented innovative
programs. For more information on how to continue the Foundation’s
legacy by supporting its research and programs, call 713-659-1336.
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to Summer 2000 HOPE Newsletter Contents
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