A Clue to Cancer

摘要

Hernan acevedo is not a big name in cancer research. From his laboratory at Pittsburgh's Allegheny-Singer Research Institute, the 70-year-old biochemist has spent two decades pursuing the eccentric notion that all malignancies are the work of a single hormone called hCG, or human chorionic gonadotro-pin. Healthy adult cells are typically free of hCG. But developing embryos seem to use it to shield themselves from immune attack, and Acevedo believes malignant tumors use it for the same purpose. Other scientists haven't paid much attention to his work, but it's getting harder and harder to ignore. This week the journal Cancer is publishing the strongest evidence to date that, as Acevedo puts it, "the hormone that gives us life also kills us." And some clinicians are now exploring the possibility that a vaccine against hCG will provide a new weapon against tumors. "I don't think [the anti-hCG vaccine] is nirvana," says Stanford-based immunologist Edwin Rock. "But in terms of controlling cancer, it may be as close as we ever get."