Gorski's 1999 article "Blockade of the vascular endothelial growth factor stress response increases the antitumor effects of ionizing radiation", characterizing the effects ofangiogenesis inhibitors on the effectiveness ofanti-tumor therapies, has been cited over 900 times according to PubMed.[20][21] This research has been used in anti-tumor therapeutic research, including an observation that angiogenesis inhibitors enhanced the therapeutic effects ofionizing radiation "by preventing repair of radiation damage toendothelial cells,"[22] and in determining the potential of combinational therapies to allow reduction of the dosages in toxic conventional treatments[23] while sustaining tumor regression when combined with specificantibodies andradiation therapy.[24]
Gorski's work with Helena Mauceri and others, published inNature in 1998 as "Combined effects of angiostatin and ionizing radiation in antitumour therapy" studied the "combined effects ofangiostatin" (a protein occurring in several animal species) "and ionizing radiation in anti-tumor therapy"[25] led to investigation into the selective destruction of tumor cells, which according to a 1999 study by Gregg L. Semenza (citing Mauceri and others), "are morehypoxic than normal cells," allowing for "tumor cells to be killed without majorsystemic side effects."[26]
In 2008, Gorski and Yun Chen published an article titled "Regulation of angiogenesis through a microRNA (miR-130a) that down-regulates antiangiogenic homeobox genes GAX and HOXA5" that investigated the use ofmicroRNA to regulateangiogenesis.[27]
Gorski is a prolific blogger.[6] In 2004, he began writing a blog entitledRespectful Insolence atBlogspot under thepen nameOrac.Respectful Insolence was then moved to theScienceBlogs website.[34][35] Alissa Quart, writing forColumbia Journalism Review in 2010, described Orac as a "self-appointed autism expert" known for attacking the "vaccines-cause-autism set" and who had recently celebrated when an opponent lost their medical license.[36] In 2015, writing forSlate, Jacob Brogan said Orac was a "doctor who blogs about skepticism and medicine".[37]
In 2008 Gorski started blogging atScience-Based Medicine under his real name while continuing to blog as Orac atRespectful Insolence.[38][39] He was laterdoxed as Orac.[6] As the managing editor[clarification needed] atScience-Based Medicine, Gorski has posted on issues of medicine and pseudoscience, including theanti-vaccination movement, alternative therapies, and cancer research and treatment.[40][41] In 2010, Gorski recounted how members of the anti-vaccine blog Age of Autism wrote to the board of directors at Wayne State University and asked that he be prevented from blogging.[42]
Writing forThe Atlantic in 2011, David H. Freedman described Gorski as one of the more "prickly anti-alternative-medicine warriors"[43] and said he was "among a small, loud band of alt-med critics."[44]
In September 2014, Gorski and fellow skepticSteven Novella published an article inTrends in Molecular Medicine denouncing the study ofintegrative medicine as harmful to science.[64][65] The following month Gorski also published an article critical of integrative oncology inNature Reviews Cancer.[66] Several months later, six of his colleagues responded to the editor to express concerns with his view on integrative oncology, arguing that, in their opinion, his "article selectively focuses on practices with the weakest mechanistic evidence base", such ashomeopathy andreiki.[67]
Gorski is married.[6][15] Gorski describes himself as an aspiring ally of marginalized communities, and has in recent years begun to identify as a center-left Democrat with progressive views on social justice issues.[6]
Speyer, Cecilia L.; Nassar, Mahdy A.; Hachem, Ali H.; Bukhsh, Miriam A.; Jafry, Waris S.; Khansa, Rafa M.; Gorski, David H. (4 May 2016). "Riluzole mediates anti-tumor properties in breast cancer cells independent of metabotropic glutamate receptor-1".Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.157 (2):217–228.doi:10.1007/s10549-016-3816-x.PMID27146584.S2CID23986691.
Welch HG, Gorski DH, Albertsen PC (2015). "Trends in Metastatic Breast and Prostate Cancer—Lessons in Cancer Dynamics".N Engl J Med.373 (18):1685–1687.doi:10.1056/NEJMp1510443.PMID26510017.
2018Pseudoscience: The Conspiracy Against Science "Integrative' Medicine: Integrating Quackery with Science-Based Medicine" :MIT Press: edited by Allison B. Kaufman,James C. Kaufman:ISBN978-0262037426[68]
^"Breast Cancer Program". Barbara Ann Kamanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University. 2013. Archived fromthe original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved17 May 2013.
^Dvorak, Harold F. (1 November 2002). "Vascular Permeability Factor/Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor: A Critical Cytokine in Tumor Angiogenesis and a Potential Target for Diagnosis and Therapy".Journal of Clinical Oncology.20 (21):4368–4380.doi:10.1200/JCO.2002.10.088.PMID12409337.
^Brayton, Ed (host) (14 August 2012)."Dr. David Gorski and Mike Farrell".Culture Wars Radio (podcast). WPRR, Public Reality Radio. Archived fromthe original on 13 November 2012. Retrieved16 June 2013.
^Gorski, David H.; Novella, Steven P. (Sep 2014). "Clinical trials of integrative medicine: testing whether magic works?".Trends in Molecular Medicine.20 (9):473–6.doi:10.1016/j.molmed.2014.06.007.PMID25150944.
^Bigliardi, Stefano (2019). "The Advocates of Pseudoscience Are Not Monsters – but Pseudoscience Is".Skeptical Inquirer.43 (6). Center for Inquiry:58–59.
