William Coley was a cancer researcher who developed a treatment based on provoking an immune response to bacteria. When normal cells are damaged beyond repair, they are eliminated by apoptosis. ... A request has been made on Wikipedia for this article to be deleted in accordance with the deletion policy. ... Subgroups Actinobacteria Aquificae Bacteroidetes/Chlorobi Chlamydiae/Verrucomicrobia Chloroflexi Chrysiogenetes Cyanobacteria Deferribacteres Deinococcus-Thermus Dictyoglomi Fibrobacteres/Acidobacteria Firmicutes Fusobacteria Gemmatimonadetes Nitrospirae Planctomycetes Proteobacteria Spirochaetes Thermodesulfobacteria Thermomicrobia Thermotogae Bacteria (singular: bacterium) are a major group of living organisms. ...

In the late 1800's Coley began working at the New York Cancer Hospital (which later became part of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center) in New York City, and looked into the success rates of cancer treatment in the past compared to his day. He found that surgery had been much more effective in the past, before the use of antiseptics when infection was a normal side effect of surgery. For example, one surgeon in the 1770s purportedly cured six out of every seven patients. Coley also learned of the case of a patient at his own hospital seven years earlier, who had throat and tonsil cancer. After surgery, there was not much hope for him. Then, to boot, he came down with erysipelas, a bacterial infection caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. Amazingly, his cancer disappeared, and Coley found that he was still alive, seven years later. Events and Trends Beginning of the Napoleonic Wars (1803 - 1815). ... The Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York is a treatment and research institution founded in 1884 as the New York Cancer Hospital. ... Nickname: The Big Apple Motto: Official website: City of New York Location [[Image:|250px|250px|Location of City of New York, New York]] Location in the state of New York Government Counties (Boroughs) Bronx (The Bronx) New York (Manhattan) Queens (Queens) Kings (Brooklyn) Richmond (Staten Island) Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R... When normal cells are damaged beyond repair, they are eliminated by apoptosis. ... An antiseptic (Greek αντι, against, and σηπτικος, putrefactive) is a substance that prevents the growth and reproduction of various microorganisms (such as bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses) on the external surfaces of the body. ... An infection is the detrimental colonization of a host organism by a foreign species. ... A typical modern surgical operation For other uses, see Surgery (disambiguation). ... Events and Trends For more events, see 18th century United States Declaration of Independence ratified by the Continental Congress (July 4, 1776). ... Head and neck cancers are malignant growths located in the oral cavity (mouth), nasal cavity, pharynx, larynx, thyroid, paranasal sinuses, salivary glands and lymph nodes of the upper neck. ... The group A streptococcus bacterium (Streptococcus pyogenes) is responsible for most cases of streptococcal illness. ...

Coley developed the theory that it was the infections which helped patients in the past to recover from their cancer. So he began to treat patients by injecting a brew of Streptococcus pyogenes directly into inoperable tumors. This met with much success, even after metastasis. The treatment was most effective when it provoked a fever and a full-blown infection. Later, Coley decided to use a mixture of dead Streptococcus pyogenes and dead Serratia marcescens bacteria. According to Stephen Hoption Cann of the University of British Columbia, "He had successes you simply couldn't hope for today, curing even extensive metastatic disease." (New Scientist, 2 Nov., 2002) The group A streptococcus bacterium (Streptococcus pyogenes) is responsible for most cases of streptococcal illness. ... Metastasis (Greek: change of the state) is the spread of cancer from its primary site to other places in the body. ... The group A streptococcus bacterium (Streptococcus pyogenes) is responsible for most cases of streptococcal illness. ... Binomial name Serratia marcescens Bizio 1823 Serratia marcescens is a Gram negative bacterium, a human pathogen of the family Enterobacteriaceae. ... The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university with its main campus located at Point Grey, in the University Endowment Lands of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and another smaller campus known as UBC Okanagan located in Kelowna, British Columbia. ... New Scientist cover - 18 December 2004 New Scientist is a weekly international science magazine covering recent developments in science and technology for a general English-speaking audience. ...

Although Coley successfully treated hundreds of patients, his superior decided to put the emphasis on the newly invented radiation therapy. At the time, it was thought that radiation therapy could be improved into an effective cure for cancer. But, as we now know, radiation is not successful after metastasis. Clinac 2100 C accelerator Radiation therapy (or radiotherapy) is the medical use of ionising radiation as part of cancer treatment to control malignant cells (not to be confused with radiology, the use of radiation in medical imaging and diagnosis). ... Metastasis (Greek: change of the state) is the spread of cancer from its primary site to other places in the body. ...

Coley died in 1936, and his treatment method more or less died with him. There is only now a renewed interest in his ideas.

References

• Dr Coley's Famous Fever, New Scientist, 2 Nov., 2002

• Spontaneous regression: a hidden treasure buried in time, by S.A. Hoption Cann et al., Medical Hypotheses, vol 58, p. 115 (2002)