Min Chiu Li
Min Chiu Li 李敏求 | |
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Nassau Hospital |
Min Chiu Li (
Early life and education
Born in
Cancer research
Li began to treat his choriocarcinoma patients with an
Between 1953 and 1955, while still at Sloan Kettering, Li and his colleagues experimented with using methotrexate as a cancer treatment. Although they were unable to demonstrate any improvement in patient health, the team made one important finding: When patients were being treated with methotrexate, urine levels of the hormone human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) dropped steadily. Li hypothesized that the patients' tumors were secreting hCG, and as a result, that the level of hCG in a patient's urine could be used to measure the effectiveness of a particular treatment.[4]
In 1955, after moving to the National Cancer Institute, Li had the opportunity to test his hypotheses. Li's first patient was the 24-year-old wife of a U.S. Navy dental technician. A lesion in one of her lungs had ruptured, filling her
Li treated two additional patients with choriocarcinoma that had metastasized to the lungs and achieved similar results: complete remission within four months. During his work with these three patients Li tried varying the amount of methotrexate given to the patients and the frequency of the doses. He concluded that a dose of 100–125 mg given every day for four or five days was more effective than a single, larger dose.[4]
Li and his colleagues found that methotrexate eliminated the visible tumors in patients whose choriocarcinoma had metastasized. However, Li noted that the patients' blood tests continued to show an elevated level of hCG. Although the patients did not exhibit what doctors traditionally considered "clinical evidence of cancer",[2] such as tumors, Li continued to treat them with chemotherapy based on their elevated hCG levels. The National Cancer Institute administration disapproved, feeling that by continuing treatment Li was experimenting on his patients and unnecessarily poisoning them with the chemotherapy drug. In 1957, the NCI fired Li and he returned to Sloan Kettering.[6]
However, Li was ultimately vindicated. Those patients whose methotrexate treatment was stopped once the visible tumors disappeared inevitably relapsed, while the patients who continued to be treated until their hCG levels returned to normal were cured.
Li made several subsequent contributions to cancer research. In 1960, he demonstrated that metastatic
Recognition
Li received the
References
Citations
Sources
- Brody, Jane (15 November 1972). "16 Win Lasker Award for Cancer Work". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
- Freireich, EJ (September 2002). "Min Chiu Li: a perspective in cancer therapy". Clinical Cancer Research. 8 (9): 2764–5. PMID 12231514. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
- "Classics in oncology: Roy Hertz's chemotherapy of choriocarcinomand related trophoblastictumors in women". CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 23 (4): 242–243. 1 July 1973. PMID 4354566.
- Li, John K. (2003). CAMS at 40: 1963-2003, a History of Chinese American Medical Society (PDF). Chinese American Medical Society.
- Li, M. C.; Hertz, R.; Spencer, D. B. (November 1956). "Effect of methotrexate therapy upon choriocarcinoma and chorioadenoma". Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine. 93 (2): 361–6. S2CID 22939197.
- Li, Min C. (15 September 1979). "The historical background of successful chemotherapy for advanced gestational trophoblastic tumors". American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. 135 (2): 266–72. PMID 224706.
- Li, M. C. (1 November 1973). "To The Editor". CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. 23 (6): 375–376. .
- Mukherjee, Siddhartha (2011). ISBN 978-1439170915.
- Yarris, Jonathan P; Hunter, Alan J (1 May 2003). "Roy Hertz, M.D. (1909–2002): The cure of choriocarcinoma and its impact on the development of chemotherapy for cancer". Gynecologic Oncology. 89 (2): 193–198. PMID 12765173.