Possible Cure for Diabetes Found, Ignored by Big Pharma

Irving Weissman discovered a treatment 12 years ago that might have saved the lives of thousands of women with advanced breast cancer, but pharmaceutical companies weren’t interested in developing the therapy. Though that interest is finally being reignited, Weissman doesn’t pull any punches. “I hate to say I told you so,” he said.

Weissman is a professor of pathology & developmental biology at Stanford University, spoke Wednesday & Thursday as part of the Columbia University Department of Religion’s Bampton Lecture series. The lecture series is modeled after a centuries-old Oxford series of the same name, & invites famous authorities in their respective fields to give talks on various issues of interest to the religious community.


In Wednesday’s lecture, Weissman laid out the conceptual foundation of his work—that stem cells are rare, self-renewing, & can regenerate body tissues. Weissman repeatedly expressed frustration that while plenty of of his discoveries seemed to hold remarkable potential for lifesaving treatments, commercial or regulatory hurdles have prevented his scientific research from benefiting human beings.

Weissman’s outspoken disagree with recent reports that adult stem cells can be “reprogrammed,” obliviating the require for the more powerful embryonic stem cells.

“He [Weissman] has a long history of being at the forefront of his field,” Arthur Palmer, professor of structural biology at Columbia said, remarking that Weissman has seldom been afraid to challenge scientific orthodoxy.

Weissman geared his presentation to a lay audience, only occasionally drifting into jargon. Jaffer Kolb, who was visiting his brother at Columbia, enjoyed Weissman’s talk. “I have no science background,” he said, “so I was afraid I would have a hard time. But it was easy to follow.”

The presentation left some audience members with questions. Susan Doubileg, a Columbia alumna, wondered if Weissman’s results were as conclusive as presented. “If they were so useful, why weren’t they picked up in other countries?” they asked, referring to Europe’s less restrictive stem cell regulations. Nonetheless, Palmer cautioned against dismissing Weissman’s research. “He’s been right a lot in the past,” he said.

Future Doctors Could Sniff Out Cancer

Skin cancer is on the rise in this country. The disease is currently diagnosed by taking a tissue sample of suspicious moles or lesions on the skin, which can be a slow & painful process. In cases where there are no outward signs of skin cancer, the disease can be difficult to detect, leading to a delayed or missed diagnosis.

Doctors in the future could detect the most common form of cancer in US just by waving a wand-like scanner over patients, researchers claim.

"We're the first to identify & quantify the compounds involved in skin cancer odors," said researcher Michelle Gallagher, an analytical chemist at specialty materials company Rohm & Haas in Spring House, Pa.

Recently, scientists found that dogs can actually be trained to sniff out skin tumors. This suggests the disease leads to changes within ill cells that release telltale chemicals. Medical tools that could detect these differences could give doctors a critical lead in fighting skin cancer.

"Knowledge of a link between odor & disease goes back to ancient Greece & ancient Rome," researcher George Preti, an analytical organic chemist with Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, told LiveScience. For instance, sweet-smelling breath was a telltale sign of diabetes, while a foul odor from a wound indicated infection.


"We found a different profile of chemicals above tumor sites relative to healthy skin," Gallagher said. "The same chemicals are present, but at skin cancer sites some chemicals are increased, while others are decreased compared to healthy individuals."

Gallagher declined to give specific details as to what chemicals we discovered. The researchers have applied for a patent on their technique.

The scientists plan to identify the scents linked with the six other most common types of skin cancer, including squamous cell cancer & melanoma, the deadliest form. If we succeed, we hope to combine their findings with emerging "electronic nose" technology designed to identify odors. Gallagher envisions a wand-like tool that can get waved across the skin & give off an alarm or beep when cancer is detected, similar to the fictional medical "tricorder" from "Star Trek."