Harvard Doctor Finds Cancer Breakthrough

An important breakthrough in cancer research was announced Wednesday. Dr. Richard E. Wilson, associate professor of Surgery, was able to demonstrate the ability of the body's natural antibodies to reject cancer cells.

In August 1964, Wilson transplanted a kidney from a cancer victim to a patient. Then, in January 1966, he discovered that the transplant had induced in his patient the same form of cancer that had killed the kidney donor. Wilson discontinued the use of immunosuppressive drugs which had inhibited the patient's ability to reject the transplant by weakening the antibodies.

The patient's body responded by rejecting both the kidney and the cancer. Subsequently, after the drugs had been recontinued to allow a new operation, the cancer failed to reappear, indicating a complete cure.

The report, written by Wilson and five other doctors, appeared in The New gland Journal of Medicine.