2003 Phoenix Winners

My grandmother was always an active, youthful woman with a wonderful sense of humor and a positive outlook on life. Even after her seventieth birthday, I never perceived her as old or frail. Five years ago, though, she began the battle with cancer that would change her life forever.

In the fall of 1997, my grandmother began experiencing unusual abdominal pains and swelling. She also had a disturbing rash on the skin of her breast. After a long series of biopsies and a major exploratory operation on her abdomen, my grandmother was diagnosed with an unusual form of ovarian cancer that had already metastasized.

Shortly thereafter my aunt, who is my grandmother’s daughter, discovered a lump in her breast after a routine mammogram. She underwent a mastectomy and was diagnosed with intraductal carcinoma of the breast. Despite the mastectomy, her cancer had already spread to several lymph nodes. For several months, my grandmother and aunt experienced the trials of chemotherapy at the same time.

By the age of forty-five, one in ninety-three women will experience breast cancer. My aunt’s cancer was classified as Stage 3A, meaning that malignant cells had spread to nearby lymph nodes and could be as large as 5 cm. Both she and my grandmother faced a long period of grueling chemotherapy and radiation treatments before they could hope to return to their normal lives.

As part of their early chemotherapy program, both women began receiving paclitaxel, commonly known as TAXOL, in combination with other drugs. At that time, TAXOL had just been approved for the treatment of ovarian and breast cancer. By the time my grandmother and aunt received the drug, it had undergone extensive scientific scrutiny.

In 1958, the National Cancer Institute began screening plant species for anti-cancer activity. Thirteen years later, Drs. Monroe Wall and M.C. Wani of Research Triangle Institute, North Carolina, identified an anti-cancer compound in the bark of the Pacific yew tree. This compound eventually became the active ingredient of paclitaxel. Subsequent animal studies showed that paclitaxel increased the longevity of mice with experimental cancers. In 1979, Susan Horwitz, Ph.D. discovered that the plant extract inhibits erratic cell division in tumors binding to microtubules in the cytoskeletons of cells. Eventually, researchers learned to synthesize paclitaxel from renewable resources, and the FDA approved the drug for ovarian cancer treatment in 1995. Today, oncologists use TAXOL to treat ovarian, breast, and lung cancers.

Most modern drugs are made synthetically to perform a predetermined function, tested on animals to confirm efficacy and safety, and then tested on human patients. The development of TAXOL was unusual because researchers began with a naturally occurring substance, pinpointed its effectiveness as an anti-cancer agent through animal testing, and then studied its mechanism of action. The research animal is a crucial component of this process. Without the mouse experiments, TAXOL researchers may not have linked this isolated plant compound to its life-saving anti-cancer properties. Also, even if TAXOL’s mechanism of action became apparent through non-living models, animals were needed to prove that the drug was effective and safe before human trials began.

According to the 19^th - century physiologist Claude Bernard, coined "the father of experimental medicine," physiology must be a lab science, with findings supported by experimental as well as clinical data. "In a word, I consider hospitals only as the entrance to scientific medicine; they are the first field of observation which a physician enters; but the true sanctuary of medical science is a laboratory." Animals serve as specimens for laboratory experiments, and they provide empirical data which leads to the creation of new treatments. The American Medical Association asserts that "virtually every advance in medical science in the 20^th Century, from antibiotics and vaccines to antidepressant drugs and organ transplants, has been achieved either directly or indirectly through the use of animals in laboratory experiments." The flexibility that animals brought to biomedical research allowed TAXOL to be born and, eventually, to reach my family.

Unfortunately, metastatic cancer is rarely curable. Both my grandmother and aunt went into remission after being treated with TAXOL, a variety of other drugs, and radiation. My grandmother developed a malignant brain tumor in October of 2000, and her health fluctuated for two years before she died peacefully at a Hospice care unit. My aunt remained in remission for more than four years, but she now receives chemotherapy treatments due to elevated tumor markers in her blood. Despite these setbacks, I am grateful to the researchers and producers of TAXOL for providing my beloved family members with a temporary period of health and activity. Furthermore, I feel optimistic that animal research will lead to better treatments and prevention strategies so that future generations can be spared from this deadly disease.

Follow up essay - Arielle, Internship completed at Barrow Neurological Institute

Life has become so fast paced, with people continually focused on school, family, friends, jobs, money, and other everyday problems. As Americans in a technologically advanced society, we take our lives and health for granted. Thanks to drastic improvements in medical treatments and information, we no longer have the need to fear influenza or bronchitis, among the top ten leading causes of death in 1900. Pharmacies are now open 24 hours, selling every type of antibiotic and over-the-counter medicine, which can be found in every household. Ailments that threatened death 100 years ago are no more than minor setbacks today. However, a new set of challenges have arisen. Everything changes the morning you wake up to a house full or paramedics and a father with chest pain.

My father appeared to be one of the healthiest people I knew. A type A personality, everything was in order; he maintained a steady job as an airline pilot, kept up our house, spent time with my family, took care of himself, ate well, and even managed to go to the gym on a regular basis. There were no warning signs of the problems to come. On August 24, 2002, my 46-year-old father was diagnosed with atherosclerosis.

Atherosclerosis is "characterized by the deposition of atheromatous plaques containing cholesterol and lipids on the innermost layer of the walls of large and medium-sized arteries." For my father, this meant that the levels of triglycerides - a form of fat - in his body were much too high and had partially blocked one of his arteries, causing a reduced blood flow, and eventually heart attack. In order to help my father, the doctors told us, it would be necessary to perform both angioplasty and insert a stent into his artery.

The first human balloon angioplasty was performed in 1977, which eventually led to the creation of coronary stents 10 years later. Both procedures are a type of non-surgical cardiac catheterization. The process involves the insertion of a catheter into the groin area and through vessels directly into the heart. Angioplasty "is the most common way to open arteries without the trauma of bypass surgery". In order to remove excess blockage and open the artery, a tiny balloon is inflated. Stents take angioplasty a step farther, inserting a stainless steel wire tube in order to prevent the artery from closing in the future.

The amazing technology that is available today would not be possible without the use of animal research. Both angioplasty and the use of cardiac stents have been refined over many years and improved in order to provide us with the current technology. Throughout many years, animals - especially dogs - have assisted in the development of both procedures and provided a wealth of necessary information to scientists.

Doctors and scientists, using animal models and other techniques, are continuously learning new information about atherosclerosis and other heart diseases. A current study at the Mayo Clinic indicates: "that treatment with stents coated with Abbott’s proprietary drug resulted in dramatic improvement in vessel patency, or openness, versus stents alone in a well-accepted coronary injury model in pigs". Because scientists have the opportunity to work with pigs in their research, they are able to unlock more secrets of the disease and, hopefully advance the technology and treatments. Before long, stents and angioplasty will become procedures of the past, making way for more sophisticated forms of treatment and prevention.

Atherosclerosis, a disease now among the top ten leading causes of death, many times is genetic and cannot be traced to specific problems in the person’s lifestyle. However, because my father’s heart attack alerted doctors early, they were able to help him and restore his previous lifestyle. The cardiac stent remains in his heart, and will hopefully help him to function for many more years. My father is now living his life almost exactly as before his heart attack, with new medicines and minor adjustments in diet. Because animal research has given doctors much information about the disease and treatments, my father was given his life back.

The last decades have brought on a rapid evolution of technology that has left many Americans feeling omnipotent - as if they know everything. However, the reality is that every new piece of information brings forth questions and paths in unforeseen directions. Science has introduced to us the study of organic chemistry through models of nucleic acid. We now know how DNA and RNA are encoded and the process of protein synthesis. The human genome project has even identified the coding and function for many of the thousands of genes that operate our bodies. But, how much do we really know? DNA and RNA - the coding which impacts our lives so greatly on a daily basis - remains a mystery in the world of science. These mere molecules, microscopic in size, are capable of performing feats that the human mind could never imagine. As with all aspects of life, these powers can produce both positive and negative effects. The complete understanding of these processes and the influences on nucleic acid could bring our technologically advanced society to another level, one in which the ultimate control is in our hands.

What impacts gene expression? How much influence do outside factors have in altering the genetic makeup within our bodies? These were the questions I was asked to study as I began my internship at Barrow Neurological Institute (BNI). The project I was assigned to work on dealt with studying gene expression in rats to determine the long-term neurological effects of stressors during early stages of development. The use of rat models to exhibit phenomena such as child abuse enables scientists in the Behavioral Genetics laboratory to gain more understanding in these areas and hopefully open new paths toward solutions.

Genetics and its role in our lives have always astounded me; my experience this summer has only reinforced this idea and shown me the entire scope of possibilities linked to the understanding of genetics. Working with new technology such as microarrays - a less arduous means of examining and comparing gene expression levels – has reinforced the complexity of our subatomic processes and shown me the importance of genetic research and its potential impact of technology.

My experience at the BNI will always be one of my most memorable and life-changing experiences. Initially unsure of where my future paths would lead, I am now certain that I will study biomedical engineering and hope to one-day work in a lab similar to the BNI. I am very grateful for this opportunity. I would like to thank all of the people at the lab who were more than willing to help me and made my experience valuable.

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