Scientific journals are researchers' way of
disseminating key findings throughout the medical
community. Rather than starting from scratch, investigators
build upon published discoveries of others. In cancer
research, the "others" are most often five
Kimmel
Cancer Center investigators, according to the
January/February issue of Science Watch, a
newsletter published by Thomson Scientific.
With more than 90,000 references between them, the
investigators were named as the most frequently cited in
cancer research from 1999 to 2005. "The Kimmel Cancer
Center solidifies its stance as a research powerhouse in
the field of oncology with its researchers accounting for
the top five spots in this category," reports the
newsletter.
Calling Bert Vogelstein, Kenneth Kinzler, James
Herman, Stephen Baylin and David Sidransky "doctors of the
decade," Science Watch editor Christopher King said,
"The impressive number of citations these exceptional
researchers have received is evidence of their profound
influence on modern scientific thought."
Science Watch compiled the list by using data
from Essential Science Indicators and evaluating
institutions based on papers published and cited in
clinical medicine journals indexed by Thomson
Scientific.
Vogelstein and Kinzler, who topped the cancer list
with more than 50,000 citations, are the leading experts in
molecular genetics and were in large part responsible for
defining cancer as a disease of genetic mistakes. They have
identified the key genetic mutations involved in the
development and progression of colorectal cancer and have
invented genetic screening tests for people at high risk of
developing the disease.
Herman and Baylin are pioneers in epigenetics, or the
study of gene alterations that occur without mutating the
DNA. Instead of mutating, genes are altered by a cellular
mechanism known as methylation. When tumor suppressor genes
are hypermethylated, they do not function and stop the
growth of cells, which may cause cancers to start.
Demonstrating how important these changes are, the FDA has
recently approved the first demethylating agent, a drug
that reduces methylation in genes and restores their
function.
Sidransky studies genetic and epigenetic changes in
cancer and is a leader in the study of cancer biomarkers,
the earliest molecular changes in the cancer process. His
discoveries have been used to develop screening tests for
cancer by identifying early markers of cancer in urine,
blood plasma, sputum and other bodily fluids.
Sidransky also was among the first to definitively
link cigarettes to cancer by identifying the mutation
caused by smoking.
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