Patient advocates help researchers avoid "bumps in the road".

better response rates. Marti cautioned that "fludarabine is not an ideal drug however, as prolonged administration of the drug results in severe T-cell depletion and suppression." Many leukemia researchers think 506U may be the drug of choice for treating CLL in the next decade. In Phase I trials it has shown greater efficacy than any other drug commercially available. It will be entering phase II trials this summer and researchers hope that a good sense of its possibilities will emerge sometime in 1999. Marti believes however that "the real hope for late stage CLL patients lies in multiple therapies that combine the best of the biological approaches with new and exciting molecular treatments which are still evolving." Scientists are also looking at new ways to modulate cells to the sensitivity of chemotherapies. When it comes to patient advocates and medical researchers, some envision worlds colliding or impassable bridges. But a few trailblazers within the Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) are convincing skeptics that strong bonds can be forged between these diverse camps for a better research program. Advocates have been a formal part of the breast cancer SPORE based at the University of California at San Fran-cisco since its inception in 1992. Their example is spurring similar partnerships at other NCI-supported SPOREs and cooperative groups. The two main benefits of advocate participation mentioned by both sides are focus and a common language. Easily Distracted "It's easy to become distracted when doing scientific research and follow things of scientific importance but not necessarily translational importance. Advocates bring a continual reminder that this is breast cancer we're working on, not one's research career. They provide a centering force all the time," said Joe Gray, Ph.D., principal investigator for the San Francisco breast cancer SPORE. Deborah Collyar described the challenge: "Researchers become experts in the letter Q and can tell you all about Q. But they forget that it's only part of the alphabet." Collyar is an advocate member of the UCSF SPORE and president of Patient Advocates in Research NEWS 1193