The discovery of angiogenesis inhibitors: A new class of drugs
Biographical sketch:
Professor Judah Folkman, M.D., was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on February 24, 1933. He received his B.A. in 1953 from Ohio State University (cum laude) and his M.D. in 1957 from Harvard Medical School (magna cum laude). While at Ohio State (1950-1953), he worked in Dr. Robert Zollinger's surgical laboratory and was a co-author on papers describing a new method of hepatectomy for liver cancer. As a student at Harvard medical School he worked in Dr. Robert Gross' laboratory where he developed the first atrio-ventricular implantable pacemaker, for which he received the Boylston Medical Prize, the Soma Weiss Award, and the Borden Undergraduate Award in Medicine.
In 1957, Dr. Folkman started his surgical training at the Massachusetts General Hospital and served as Chief Resident in surgery from 1964-1965. His surgical residency was interrupted between 1960 and 1962 when he served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. It was here that Dr. Folkman, with David Long, first reported the use of silicone rubber implantable polymers for the sustained-release of drugs. This became the basis for the development of Norplant (by the Population Council), a 5-year contraceptive used world-wide, and initiated the field of controlled-release technology. It was also in Bethesda that he carried out the experiments of growing tumors in isolated perfused organs, which led to the idea that tumors are angiogenesis-dependent.
In 1965, Dr. Folkman joined Harvard's Surgical Service at the Boston City Hospital where he was appointed Instructor in Surgery. In 1667 he was promoted to Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and to Surgeon-in-Chief at Children's Hospital Medical Center, becoming the Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor of Surgery in 1968. After 14 years as Surgeon-in-Chief, he stepped down to devote himself full time to research.
Dr. Folkman's discoveries on the mechanism of angiogenesis opened a field of investigation, now pursued worldwide. His laboratory reported the first purified angiogenesis molecule, the first angiogenesis inhibitors, proposed the concept of angiogenic disease, and has begun clinical trials based on this research. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was first purified in Folkman's laboratory (together with Michael Klagsbrun and Yuen Shing). Angiogenesis inhibitors are currently in clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe.
Dr. Folkman's exceptional achievements have been recognized by numerous national and international Awards. In 1990 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He is also a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the Institute of Medicine. He holds honorary degrees from seven universities.
It was also in Bethesda that Folkman carried out the experiments of growing tumors in isolated perfused organs, which led to the idea that tumors are angiogenesis-dependent. In 1965, Dr. Folkman joined Harvard's Surgical Service at the Boston City Hospital where he was appointed as Instructor in Surgery and Associate Director of the Sears Surgical Laboratory. He received a Research Career Development Award from the National Cancer Institute in 1965. In 1967, he was promoted to Professor of Surgery at the Harvard Medical School and to Surgeon-in-Chief at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Boston, becoming the Julia Dyckman Andrus Professor of Pediatric Surgery in 1968. Before assuming full-time chairmanship of the Department of Surgery at Children's Hospital, Dr. Folkman served for six months as Chief Resident in pediatric surgery at the Philadelphia children's Hospital under Dr. C. Everett Koop.
During his fourteen-year tenure as Surgeon-in-Chief at Children's Hospital, Dr. Folkman began his major laboratory effort on the study of angiogenesis. During this time he also carried out clinical investigations, including the development of a new treatment of glycogen storage disease. He received the Boylston Award for outstanding teaching and has been invited three times to give the graduation day address at the Harvard Medical School. In 1980 he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Cellular Biology at the Harvard Medical School, and in 1981 he stepped down from the chairmanship in surgery in order to devote his full effort to research.
Current Research: Dr. Folkman's discoveries on the mechanism of angiogenesis opened a field of investigation now pursued worldwide. His laboratory reported the first purified angiogenic molecule, the first angiogenesis inhibitor, proposed the concept of angiogenic disease, and has begun clinical trials based on this research. Folkman's hypothesis that solid tumors are angiogenesis-dependent initiated studies of angiogenesis in tumor biology and in disciplines as diverse as developmental biology and dermatology. He developed almost all of the methodology for this field including: the first cloning and culture of capillary endothelial cells; sustained release polymer technology and in vivo bioassays. He elucidated the sequential steps of capillary networks; he proposed a linkage between cell shape and growth mechanochemical mediation of gene expression by cytoskeletal elements. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was first purified in Folkman's laboratory (by Michael Klagsbrun and Yuen Shing). It is the first of 14 angiogenic molecules that have now been sequenced and cloned in other laboratories. Folkman predicted the existence of natural angiogenesis inhibitors and subsequently discovered the first of these, the angiostatic steroids, as well as two other families of inhibitor molecules. A clinical trial of angiogenesis inhibition for children with life-threatening hemangioma is underway at Children's Hospital and at other centers. Other angiogenesis inhibitors are currently in clinical trial in the US, UK and Europe. The possibility of anti-angiogenic therapy is now on a firm scientific foundation, not only in the treatment of cancer, but of many non-neoplastic diseases as well.
Awards and Honors: Awards and honors include, among others: The Lila Gruber Award, from the American Academy of Dermatology 1974; The Simon Shubitz Cancer Prize, from the University of Chicago 1982; The Lucy Worthman James Basic Research Award, from the Society of Surgical Oncology 1985; the G.H.A. Clowes Memorial Award, from the American Association for Cancer Research 1986; George Ledlie Prize, Harvard University 1987; election as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (for "original and scientific contributions to the knowledge of angiogenesis" 1988); the Sheen Award from the American College of Surgeons in 1989.
Dr. Folkman received a 10-year MERIT Award from the National Cancer Institute in 1989. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, USA in 1990 (citation "for founding the field of angiogenesis research"). He was also elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1990. He received the Gairdner Foundation International Award, from Canada in 1991.
In 1992, he received the Christopher Columbus Discovery Award in Biomedical Research from the National Institutes of health, the 3M Life Sciences Award from the Federation of American Societies for experimental Biology, The Wolf Prize in Medicine from Israel, The Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Congress on Cell and Tissue Culture, and the Mike Hogg Award from the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.
In 1993, he received the Lucian Award from McGill University, the New England Inventor of the Year Award, the Medal of Honor from the American Cancer Society, and the Glorney-Raisbeck Award from the New York Academy of Medicine.
In 1994, he was the recipient of the Second Melvin L. Samuels Award from the University of Texas, the C. Chester Stock Award from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Abraham White Scientific Achievement Award from the George Washington University School of Medicine, the John K. Lattimer Award from the American Urological Association, the Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award from the Dr. Josef Steiner Foundation in Switzerland and the Medical Foundation Award for Distinguished Contribution to Health Research from the Medical Foundation of Boston.
In 1995, he received the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Research, the Naomi Kanof Clinical Investigator Award from the Society for Investigative Dermatology, the Ladd Medal from the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Jakob Markowitz Award from the Academy of Surgical Research.
In 1996, he received the Herbert J. Block Memorial Lectureship Award from the Ohio State University, the 4th Claude Jacquillat Award for Achievements in Clinical Oncology from the Sixth International Congress on Anti-Cancer Treatments, Palais des Congres, Paris, France, the Shacknai Memorial Prize, Israel, Karnovsky Award from the American Society of Clinical Oncology, an Honorary Doctor of Science Degree from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the Ernst Scheming Prize from Germany.
In 1997, he delivered the Harvey Society Lecture at the Rockefeller University, and he received the Medallion for Scientific Achievement from the American Surgical Association, Ernst Jung Preis fur Medizin from the Jung-Stiftung fur Wissenschaft und Forschung, Germany, Charles S. Mott Prize from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation, Jill Rose Prize from the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, New York, the Massry Prize from the Meira and Shaul G. Massry Foundation, California, Distinguished Lecturer in Physiology Award from the American College of Chest Physicians, New Orleans, and the Ernst Bertner Award from the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and Career Research Achievement Award from the Cancer Treatment Research Foundation, New Orleans.
In 1998, he received the Flance/Karl Award from the American Surgical Association for Significant Contributions in Basic Laboratory Science Applicable to Surgery and the New York Academy of Medicine Medal for Distinguished Contributions in Biomedical Science, Honorary Doctor of Medicine, Uppsala University, Sweden, Honorary Doctor of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, Columbus Jewish Foundation Award, Ohio, Seventeenth Annual Jeannette Piperno Memorial Award, Temple University, Pennsylvania; 1998 Stevens Honor Award, Stevens Institute of Technology, New Jersey, Charles A. Dana Award, Charles A. Dana Foundation, New York; Guest Lectureship Award on Basic Cell Research in Cytology, American Society of Cytopathology, Tennessee; Steven C. Beering Award for Scientific Achievements, Indiana University School of Medicine; John Scott Award, Board of Directors of City Trusts, Pennsylvania; Swedish Society of Medicine Medal, Gothenburg, Sweden; Keio Medical Science prize, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
In 1999, he became an Honorary Fellow in the Royal College of Surgeons, Dublin, Ireland; Elected, American Philosophical Society; Honorary member, American Association for Thoracic Surgery; Brown Hazen Award, New York State Department of Health, Albany, New York; Churn Award, Accademia Nazionale di Medicina, Rome, Italy; Honorary Doctor of Science Degree, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pennsylvania; Honorary Degree Doctor of Science Honoris Causa, Albany Medical College, Albany, new York; Honorary Degree f Humane Letters, University of Massachusetts, Lowell; Golden Plate Award, Academy of Achievement, Washington, D.C.; City of Medicine Award, Duke University, Durham, NC; American College of Clinical Pharmacy therapeutic Frontiers Lecture Award, Kansas City, MO; J. Allyn Taylor International Prize in Medicine, The John P. Robarts Research Institute, Ontario, Canada; Career Achievement Award, Italian Association for Cancer Research, Milan, Italy; A4M Infinity Award, American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, Las Vegas, Nevada.
In 2000, he received the Special Achievement Award, The Miami Nature Biotechnology Winter Symposia, Miami, Florida; the Samuel B. Gross Prize, Philadelphia Academy of Surgery, Pennsylvania; the Cartwright Prize, Columbia University, New York; the Dale Medal, Society for Endocrinology, United Kingdom; the Walker Prize, Museum of Science, Boston; the Carl W. Gottschalk lecture Award, University of North Carolina; the Walter B. Cannon Award from the American Physiological Society; the Earl P. Benditt Research Award, North American Vascular biology Organization, Denver, Colorado; the Rehfuss Medal, Thomas Jefferson University, Pennsylvania, and the Insignia of Doctor Honoris Causa in Medicine, Goteborg University, Sweden.
In 2001 he will receive (April) the Hoeck Distinguished Award of Academic Excellence from the Children's Research Institute and the Children's National Medical Center, Washington, D.C.; (April) the Benjamin Franklin Award in Life Science from the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; (July) the University College London Prize Lecture in Clinical Science, United Kingdom; and (Sept) Distinguished Biomedical Research Award, Oakland University, Center for Biomedical Research, Rochester, Michigan.
Dr. Folkman is the author of 319 peer-reviewed papers. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of Surgery and of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery, and holds a certificate of Special Competence in Pediatric Surgery. He was a member of the Pathology A Study Section of the National Cancer Institute from 1990-1992 and served as Chairman from 1992 to 1994.
More: The discovery of angiogenesis inhibitors: A new class of drugs
|
