Swedish couple continues research in cancer immunology (40 years)
- From: J <studras@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 24 Feb 2006 06:21:18 -0500
"But the problem with using immunology to fight cancer is that the immune
system works by recognizing and repelling foreign invaders such as viruses
and bacteria. Cancer is the body's own cells gone haywire."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/260770_swedes24.html
Friday, February 24, 2006
40 years ago, this Swedish couple pioneered cancer immunology
By TOM PAULSON
Did you hear the one about the two Swedes who walked into a Seattle lab
about 40 years ago and helped launch the field of modern cancer
immunology?
Drs. Karl Erik and Ingegerd Hellstrom, now in their 70s and still active
in research, have bounced around since they first came here in 1966. Part
of this was due to circumstances beyond their control, but it also may
have been due to a Scandinavian stubborn streak that kept them focused on
trying to answer scientific questions few thought worth pursuing.
"Lots of famous people wrote big articles saying tumors are not recognized
by the immune system," said Hellstrom in his sing-song, Swedish accent
ideally suited to ironic emphasis. "We were not so famous, but we thought
maybe they were wrong."
His wife smiled, noting that most experts now take it for granted that the
immune system is involved in cancer. But it wasn't that long ago, she
said, that this was considered heresy.
The Hellstroms were recruited to the University of Washington from the
Karolinska Institute, which awards the Nobel Prizes, when many scientists
were looking at the interaction of the immune system and cancer. The
couple published some of the seminal discoveries in the field.
They were one of the first scientific teams to produce monoclonal
antibodies, specialized immune system cells that can be designed to attack
cancer by recognizing a specific tumor protein known as an antigen (or
"anti-yen," as Hellstrom tends to pronounce it).
The Hellstroms developed new analytical tools and methods in immunology
that have advanced the science. They helped start the Fred Hutchinson
Cancer Research Center and continued to publish findings on immunology and
cancer.
But the problem with using immunology to fight cancer is that the immune
system works by recognizing and repelling foreign invaders such as viruses
and bacteria. Cancer is the body's own cells gone haywire. Most scientists
eventually decided to abandon the concept of harnessing the immune system
to fight cancer.
"The bottom just fell out of it," said Ingegerd Hellstrom. The couple
believed in what they were doing, but couldn't get funding or
institutional support for their research. In 1983, they left academia to
work in industry with a biotechnology firm (now long gone) called Oncogen.
When that company was bought out and moved from Seattle, in 1997, the
couple found refuge with a non-profit organization, the Pacific Northwest
Research Institute. Last year, the institute decided to focus on diabetes
and the Hellstroms again had to move.
"We didn't know what to do," said Hellstrom. "We felt kind of obsolete."
But a like-minded colleague at the University of Washington who has long
recognized the value of the Hellstroms' contributions came to the rescue.
Dr. Mary "Nora" Disis, a leader in the search for cancer vaccines, helped
arrange for them to find a new home in the research building at Harborview
Medical Center.
"They're still quite productive," said Disis. So the Hellstroms are still
at it. The couple met, married and had children while in medical school
and seem just as excited today about their work as they must have been
while young medical students. They refuse to reveal how old they are.
"We live in the present," said Karl Erik. "In doing science, one can be
timeless."
.
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