The problem
Chemical agents were thought useful only for blood cancers; solid tumours were treated with surgery and radiation, and patients who could not have either had nothing.
The innovation
Systematic patient trials of chemotherapeutic agents, including methotrexate, against solid tumours — and a method of testing candidate drugs on tissue taken from the patient's own tumour before treating them.
How it worked
Wright's group correlated laboratory response in cultured tumour tissue with patient response, and worked out dose and delivery, including catheter delivery to tumours in difficult sites.
Why it mattered
Chemotherapy moved from a desperate measure to a planned, dosed, evidence-led part of cancer treatment.
The legacy
The logic of matching a drug to a specific patient's tumour is the ancestor of today's personalised oncology.
Sources
Jane C. Wright clinical research records, Harlem Hospital Cancer Research Foundation
Primary recordFounding members and history record
Institutional record
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