Emanuel Revici, MD: efforts to publish the clinical findings of a pioneer in lipid-based cancer therapy—Part 2

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Oct, 2004 by Marcus A. Cohen

"I have had several conversations," Cassady wrote, "at the Naval Medical Research Center at Bethesda, MD, regarding Dr. Revici.... About a year-and-a-half ago ... they had conversations with the Doctor. They were interested in his research work and offered him certain facilities.... As well as I could, in my layman's language, I told them of his further research in the matter in question. They will see him again as it is their policy to leave no stone unturned in seeking relief or a possible cure for the type of injury in which the Doctor has made some progress." (11)

Twice in the late 1940's, the Office of Naval Intelligence cleared Revici to work on this top-secret project. Twice he declined, preferring to work on radiation primarily in relation to the broad problem of cancer.

Publications and Presentations, 1950s: Between July 1950 and June 1951, three papers about Revici's findings on lipids and radiation came to the attention of the clinical research community. Robert Ravich, a colleague at the IAB (fresh out of the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University), read a paper by Revici at the Sixth Annual Congress of Radiology in London on July 26, 1950. Titled, "The Influence of Irradiation Upon Unsaturated Fatty Acids," this paper dwelt on abnormally-conjugated lipids, which clearly fit Samuelsson's description of leukotrienes published in 1987. (6) Revici didn't use the terms "leukotrienes" or "prostaglandins" here, but in later publications he indicated the role these substances play in inflammation, and he attributed the high bioactivity of prostaglandins to a "twin formation ... which appears through the cyclization of arachidonic acid."

Dr. Ravich presented another paper by Revici (co-authored by Ravich) before the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Cincinnati in December 1950. It bore the title, "The Effect of n-Butanol in Sodium Salt Solutions Upon Shock and the Survival of Mice Exposed to Severe Thermal Burns." (12) Waldemar Kaempffert, a senior science writer for The New York Times, devoted a column to Ravich's presentation in the March 4, 1951 issue of the Times, stressing the potential value of Revici's findings on radiation injury should American cities be hit by A-bombs. (13)

"Fall-out" from a paper delivered by Leonard Goldman, MD, at a meeting of the AMA in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in June 1951 marked the first documented instance of mainstream opposition to independent clinicians trying to follow Revici's line of research. Notice of Goldman's study, titled the "Use of Lipids to Enhance the Effect of Roentgen Therapy in the Treatment of Pain from Advanced Cancer," (14) made its way into a dossier that the American Cancer Society (ACS) maintained on Revici. The dossier was labeled, "Summary of information contained in the American Cancer Society, Inc.'s files concerning the Institute of Applied Biology and Dr. Emanuel Revici, as well as other persons concerned in the matter." (15) Here's an entry about a memorandum from Dr. B. Aubrey Schneider of the ACS, who had heard Goldman's paper, to Dr. Charles Cameron, scientific director of the national ACS: "In his memorandum to Dr. Cameron, Dr. Schneider adds that in a private conversation with Dr. George Cooper, Director of the Virginia Division of the Society, he indicated that he was going to try out the Lipid therapy on some cases now under his care at the University of Virginia Hospital. A copy of Dr. Goldman's paper is in the files."