Information About Cancer

Testicular cancer was usually a death sentence until 1974 when Dr. Einhorn developed the chemotherapy that now assures a 90 percent plus cure rate. There unfortunately is an aspect of testicular cancer that is incurable at this time; it involves the "benign" aspect of the disease called teratoma. This was the case for Arthur Griffith. At Indiana University under Dr. Einhorn they are actively doing research to help patients who have progressive and inoperable teratoma. They are unfortunately still several years away from clinical trials.

Definite progress has been made in the war against cancer and they are proud of what they have accomplished at Indiana University. There is probably no single institution in the United States that has had a greater success record and recognition in cancer treatment than Indiana University.

Current testis cancer research initiates focus in two areas.

Researchers have collected pathology specimens from 360 different patients with testicular cancer. The specimens are being evaluated to determine the molecular differences between the large majorities of testicular cancer patients who are cured with treatment versus those who succumb to their disease. One of Indiana University's investigators has discovered a protein (GENESIS) that is found in large amounts of tumor specimens in patients with testicular cancer. This substance helps to determine whether the cancer cell will continue to grow or will undergo cell death. Should this protein be found to be more prevalent in those patients who were not cured with their initial chemotherapy, then the research goal would be to develop a monoclonal antibody to block GENESIS and improve the cure rate.

In the second study, scientists are studying a protein called APE. This protein is partly responsible for why cancer cells develop resistance to chemotherapy agents such as cisplatin because APE helps repair the damage to the cancer cell induced by chemotherapy. If APE is more prevalent in patients who were not cured with their initial chemotherapy, Indiana University researchers may be able to develop a new agent to impair APE activity and improve the cure rate in resistant testicular cancer.