Perhaps his most significant contribution is the concept of chemoprevention, a term which he coined in two landmark papers published in the early 1970s. His notion of chemoprevention challenged existing dogma of cancer therapy at the time, suggesting an approach other than the use of cytotoxic drugs to treat end-stage disease. Dr. Sporn was one of the first to perceive and exploit the chemopreventive potential of Vitamin A and its analogues, the retinoids (a term that he also coined), and he predicted the existence of receptors for these compounds years before their discovery. These fundamental studies continue to lead to strategies with vast potential for reducing cancer incidence and death.
His laboratory also was the first to characterize the peptide transforming growth factor-beta (TGFbeta) and demonstrate its role as a negative autocrine regulator of cell growth, and loss of that function in certain tumor cells.
Recently, Dr. Sporn re-entered the field of experimental carcinogenesis, focusing on the synergistic actions of a variety of chemopreventive agents including retinoids, vitamin D analogs, synthetic estrogen response modifiers and PPARgamma agonists.
Dr. Sporn will present a major lecture titled Chemoprevention: An Essential Approach for Control of Cancer--Some New Thoughts on this Problem during the first AACR Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research Meeting. This is the premier annual international meeting on cancer prevention research, which will be held October 14-18, 2002 in Boston, Massachusetts.
The AACR is pleased to co-sponsor this Award with the Cancer Research Foundation of America. CRFA is a national, non-profit health foundation with a single mission: the prevention and early detection of cancer through scientific research and educa
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Contact: Warren Froelich
froelich@aacr.org
215-440-9300
American Association for Cancer Research
25-Sep-2002