Shelby Carbary
Chemotherapy

Introduction:
It is used widely today. It has saved many peoples lives and will save many more. Chemotherapy as been used widely to treat people with severe illnesses, specifically cancer patients. Designed to kill cells, it is guaranteed to have positive effects against cancerous tumors and microorganisms. Based on reports, Alfred Gilman and Louis S. Goodman invented this kind of treatment. Chemotherapy has been helping people for years overcome serious illness.

Discovery:
In the 1940’s, the U.S Department of Defense hired Alfred Gilman and Louis S. Goodman to conduct research on the use of nitrogen mustard as therapeutic agent. They found that the chemical warfare agent could actually treat lymphoma. Nitrogen mustards cause mutations in the genetic material of cells, thereby disrupting mitosis, or cell division. Cancer and proliferating tumors are most sensitive. After the discovery by Gilman and Goodman, Eli Lilly discovered the effectiveness of Madagascar periwinkle in blocking tumor cell proliferation. In 1965, the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy as cancer treatment was discovered. Because the chemotherapy stops the rapid division of cells hair loss, inflammation of the lining of the digestive tract, and decreased production of blood cells are common side effects. Chemotherapy consist of many different drugs that can be administered based on your individual case. For example, cyclophosphamide is use for lymphoma, breast cancer, and ovarian carcinoma where as sorafinib is used for advanced kidney cancer.

Biography:
Alfred Gilman born February 5, 1908, was an American pharmacologist at Yale University, School of Medicine, later, at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He published the textbook The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics with his colleague Louis S. Goodman in 1941. He was a member of U.S. National Academy of Science. His father owned a music store in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and he could play almost any musical instrument. Unlike his father, however, Alfred Gilman turned to science, receiving his Ph.D. in Physiological Chemistry from Yale in 1931 for "Chemical and Physiological Investigations on Canine Gastric Secretion". He then joined the faculty of the Department of Pharmacology at the Yale Medical School, where he and Louis S. Goodman, a young M.D., became colleagues and close friends. He is father of Alfred G. Gilman, Nobel winning pharmacologist.

Impact on Humanity:
If it weren’t for chemotherapy many people would not be able to overcome cancer. Over ten million people have survived cancer. Breakthroughs in medicine have allowed chemotherapy to help fight against many types of cancer not just one. Although there are many side effects that come out of chemotherapy it is a live saving treatment.


Journal Article: Dilemmas in managing patients with cancer of unknown primary.

Cancer of unknown primary(CUP) is one of the ten most common cancer diagnoses in the UK. CUP is diagnosed when the primary source of the cancer can not be detected. This leaves it difficult to treat the cancer because of the unknown location. Patients have to go through many difficult test to try and determine the location and sometimes will be provided with no answer as to where the cancer is coming from. One reason for not being able to locate the primary source could be that the secondary sources have grown and spread too quickly while the primary source as stayed small leaving it hard to find on scans. Another reason could be the immune system may have destroyed the primary after it has spread. Being diagnosed with CUP can be very emotionally and financially taxing. You have to go through intensive testing and spend lots of money doing so. Leaving everyone including the doctor, family, and patient emotionally and financially burdened.

Resources:
http://www.whoinventedit.net/who-invented-chemotherapy.html
http://www.questia.com/library/encyclopedia/nitrogen_mustard.jsp
http://www.caring4cancer.com/go/cancer/treatment/chemotherapy/common-chemotherapy-drugs-and-side-effects.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_G._Gilman
http://www.cupfoundjo.org/research_and_resources/CNP%20article%20draft.pdf