Georges Mathé
Encyclopedia
Georges Mathé was a French
oncologist
and immunologist
. In 1959, he performed the first successful bone marrow transplant
not performed on identical twins.
, France, from a rural family. Selected by his village school master, he was sent to study in a boarding school in Moulins
, Allier
.
, he participated in the French Resistance
, and studied to become a medical doctor in Paris. He graduated in 1950-51 with honors.
and oncology
in the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center, New York.
He specialised in hematology
when working with Pr. Paul Chevallier and Pr. Jean Bernard, and devoting himself to child leukemia
.
In January 1958, Mathé performed the first human bone marrow
graft
ever made in the world, in order to save six Yugoslavia
n nuclear researchers who had been accidentally irradiated. That event made him aware of the possibility and necessity of developing active and adoptive immunotherapy
and applying it to the treatment of cancers. By 1963 he "shook the medical world" when he announced he had cured a patient of leukemia by means of a bone marrow transplant
. He later showed that stem cells could not only heal radiation damage
, but also fight cancer
.
He took over the Hematology Department of the Institut Gustave Roussy
in Villejuif
in 1961 and created the Institut de Cancérologie et d’Immuno-génétique in 1964 where he conducted research. He also taught experimental oncology at the University of Paris
(1966 to 1990), created and managed (from 1980 to 1988) the Service des Maladies Sanguines et Tumorales in the Hôpital Paul-Brousse
where he blended research and therapy with groundbreaking methods and results in chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
He was one of the cofounders of the "Groupe Européen de Chimiothérapie Anticancéreuse" (G.E.C.A.) which was formally and legally established in 1962 by a group of European visionaries including Henri Tagnon, Silvio Garattini, Dirk van Bekkum, among others. Pr. Georges Mathé was the first President of GECA, from its creation in 1962 until 1965 and GECA became EORTC
in 1968.
From 1990 to 2008, Mathé worked as a consultant at the Paris Swiss Hospital, at the Rome European Hospital, at the Sofia Oncological Hospital, at the Belgrade Civil Hospital and at the Hôpital Paul-Brousse
.
.
All his life, he cooperated with researchers all around the world, particularly the USA, Japan and, shortly before his death, China. He also chaired l’Entraide Médicale Internationale, which is devoted to improving African medicine.
He published more than a thousand articles and books, and received many international awards (Cameron Price, Gold Medal of the Ciba Foundation, Johan-Georg-Zimmermann Award, Health Memorial awards, Prix Bred du Cancer, International Award of chemotherapy, Gotlieb Memorial Award, Prix Leopold Griffuel du Cancer, Prix Medawar and Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Medicine).
Dr. Brian Bolwell, chief of hematology at the Cleveland Clinic
noted that Dr. Mathé had proved an important principle: "You can cure an incurable leukemia patient.", and had developed both a technique and an important term, "adoptive immunotherapy," to describe how a person’s own immune system can be used to combat cancer and other diseases.
Dr. Joseph H. Antin, chief of stem cell transplantation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
in Boston, summed up Mathé's work: "It was quite a leap of scientific genius. He’s one of the original innovators. Much of what we have accomplished can be linked back in a fairly direct way to the work that he did in the 1950s and ’60s."
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
oncologist
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
and immunologist
Immunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
. In 1959, he performed the first successful bone marrow transplant
Bone marrow transplant
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cell or blood, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cells, or umbilical cord blood...
not performed on identical twins.
Biography
Mathé was born in 1922 in the village of SermagesSermages
Sermages is a commune in the Nièvre department in central France.-Demographics:At the 1999 census, the population was 229. On 1 January 2006, the estimate was 225.-References:* -External links:*...
, France, from a rural family. Selected by his village school master, he was sent to study in a boarding school in Moulins
Moulins, Allier
Moulins is a commune in central France, capital of the Allier department.Among its many tourist attractions are the Maison Mantin the Anne de Beaujeu Museum.-History:...
, Allier
Allier
Allier is a department in central France named after the river Allier.- History :Allier is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from parts of the former provinces of Auvergne and Bourbonnais.In 1940, the government of Marshal...
.
Education and early career
During World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he participated in the French Resistance
French Resistance
The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...
, and studied to become a medical doctor in Paris. He graduated in 1950-51 with honors.
Oncology and bone marrow transplants
He engaged in medical research in the early fifties, and took an internship in immunologyImmunology
Immunology is a broad branch of biomedical science that covers the study of all aspects of the immune system in all organisms. It deals with the physiological functioning of the immune system in states of both health and diseases; malfunctions of the immune system in immunological disorders ; the...
and oncology
Oncology
Oncology is a branch of medicine that deals with cancer...
in the Memorial Sloan–Kettering Cancer Center, New York.
He specialised in hematology
Hematology
Hematology, also spelled haematology , is the branch of biology physiology, internal medicine, pathology, clinical laboratory work, and pediatrics that is concerned with the study of blood, the blood-forming organs, and blood diseases...
when working with Pr. Paul Chevallier and Pr. Jean Bernard, and devoting himself to child leukemia
Leukemia
Leukemia or leukaemia is a type of cancer of the blood or bone marrow characterized by an abnormal increase of immature white blood cells called "blasts". Leukemia is a broad term covering a spectrum of diseases...
.
In January 1958, Mathé performed the first human bone marrow
Bone marrow
Bone marrow is the flexible tissue found in the interior of bones. In humans, bone marrow in large bones produces new blood cells. On average, bone marrow constitutes 4% of the total body mass of humans; in adults weighing 65 kg , bone marrow accounts for approximately 2.6 kg...
graft
Medical grafting
Grafting refers to a surgical procedure to move tissue from one site to another on the body, or from another person, without bringing its own blood supply with it. Instead, a new blood supply grows in after it is placed. A similar technique where tissue is transferred with the blood supply intact...
ever made in the world, in order to save six Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
n nuclear researchers who had been accidentally irradiated. That event made him aware of the possibility and necessity of developing active and adoptive immunotherapy
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a medical term defined as the "treatment of disease by inducing, enhancing, or suppressing an immune response". Immunotherapies designed to elicit or amplify an immune response are classified as activation immunotherapies. While immunotherapies that reduce or suppress are...
and applying it to the treatment of cancers. By 1963 he "shook the medical world" when he announced he had cured a patient of leukemia by means of a bone marrow transplant
Bone marrow transplant
Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the transplantation of multipotent hematopoietic stem cell or blood, usually derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood stem cells, or umbilical cord blood...
. He later showed that stem cells could not only heal radiation damage
Radiation damage
Radiation damage is a term associated with ionizing radiation.-Causes:This radiation may take several forms:*Cosmic rays and subsequent energetic particles caused by their collision with the atmosphere and other materials....
, but also fight cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
.
He took over the Hematology Department of the Institut Gustave Roussy
Institut Gustave Roussy
The Institut Gustave-Roussy is one of the world’s leading cancer-research institutes and the biggest health center dedicated to oncology in Europe. It is located in Villejuif, South Paris, France...
in Villejuif
Villejuif
Villejuif is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.-Name:The name Villejuif was recorded for the first time in a papal bull of 1119 as Villa Judea, the meaning of which is still debated...
in 1961 and created the Institut de Cancérologie et d’Immuno-génétique in 1964 where he conducted research. He also taught experimental oncology at the University of Paris
University of Paris
The University of Paris was a university located in Paris, France and one of the earliest to be established in Europe. It was founded in the mid 12th century, and officially recognized as a university probably between 1160 and 1250...
(1966 to 1990), created and managed (from 1980 to 1988) the Service des Maladies Sanguines et Tumorales in the Hôpital Paul-Brousse
Hôpital Paul-Brousse
Hôpital Paul-Brousse is a hospital in Villejuif, South Paris, France. It is named after Paul Brousse, a French socialist.Marc Zelter MD and Daniel Vittecoq MD are the professors in this hospital....
where he blended research and therapy with groundbreaking methods and results in chemotherapy and immunotherapy.
He was one of the cofounders of the "Groupe Européen de Chimiothérapie Anticancéreuse" (G.E.C.A.) which was formally and legally established in 1962 by a group of European visionaries including Henri Tagnon, Silvio Garattini, Dirk van Bekkum, among others. Pr. Georges Mathé was the first President of GECA, from its creation in 1962 until 1965 and GECA became EORTC
EORTC
The European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer or EORTC is an international non-profit organisation that develops, coordinates and stimulates cancer laboratory and clinical research in Europe...
in 1968.
From 1990 to 2008, Mathé worked as a consultant at the Paris Swiss Hospital, at the Rome European Hospital, at the Sofia Oncological Hospital, at the Belgrade Civil Hospital and at the Hôpital Paul-Brousse
Hôpital Paul-Brousse
Hôpital Paul-Brousse is a hospital in Villejuif, South Paris, France. It is named after Paul Brousse, a French socialist.Marc Zelter MD and Daniel Vittecoq MD are the professors in this hospital....
.
Later career
In the early 1990s, conscious of the immunological nature of HIV/AIDS, Mathé applied immunotherapy to a dozen patients. He also successfully treated them with a cocktail of 5 alternating molecules, at a time when HIV/AIDS was considered ineluctably lethal and before the introduction of tritherapyAntiretroviral drug
Antiretroviral drugs are medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV. When several such drugs, typically three or four, are taken in combination, the approach is known as Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, or HAART...
.
All his life, he cooperated with researchers all around the world, particularly the USA, Japan and, shortly before his death, China. He also chaired l’Entraide Médicale Internationale, which is devoted to improving African medicine.
He published more than a thousand articles and books, and received many international awards (Cameron Price, Gold Medal of the Ciba Foundation, Johan-Georg-Zimmermann Award, Health Memorial awards, Prix Bred du Cancer, International Award of chemotherapy, Gotlieb Memorial Award, Prix Leopold Griffuel du Cancer, Prix Medawar and Grande Médaille of the French Academy of Medicine).
Dr. Brian Bolwell, chief of hematology at the Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic
The Cleveland Clinic is a multispecialty academic medical center located in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The Cleveland Clinic is currently regarded as one of the top 4 hospitals in the United States as rated by U.S. News & World Report...
noted that Dr. Mathé had proved an important principle: "You can cure an incurable leukemia patient.", and had developed both a technique and an important term, "adoptive immunotherapy," to describe how a person’s own immune system can be used to combat cancer and other diseases.
Dr. Joseph H. Antin, chief of stem cell transplantation at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Dana–Farber Cancer Institute is part of a Comprehensive Cancer Center designated by the National Cancer Institute. It is a major affiliate of Harvard Medical School and is located in the Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts.-Overview:...
in Boston, summed up Mathé's work: "It was quite a leap of scientific genius. He’s one of the original innovators. Much of what we have accomplished can be linked back in a fairly direct way to the work that he did in the 1950s and ’60s."