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	HEADLINES ARCHIVES MEDIA CENTER

April 2006 Issue

• A Global Ripple Effect?
• The Promise of Peptides
• Q & A: Data Sharing on the Avian Flu
• Mechanisms of Endocrine Resistance in Breast Cancer Therapies Reviewed
• Health Briefs: Insurance, Sun Exposure & Calories

A Global Ripple Effect?

By Antonio Giordano
President: SHRO
April 1, 2006

Where does good science come from?

Common wisdom holds that good science is good science -- no matter where or by whom it is done. Good work can rise from anywhere.

But if current reductions in government funding for biotechnology continue, a new answer may gain currency: Anywhere but the United States.

It doesn't have to be this way. Yet the ripple effects of cuts in National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation grants are clear. While Ivy League labs may continue to attract government funding based on their high exposure and better private networks, smaller, less well connected schools face an uphill climb without the help of the endowments or well-heeled alumni contributions of major universities.

As an Italian American who did his post doctorate studies at Cold Spring Harbor in Long Island, NY-- an opportunity not available in my native Naples - I'm a walking example of the benefits of American training and support.

And I'm not alone.

One of major secrets of U.S. success in the sciences over the past 35 years has been to use government funding to attract and train young foreign scientists. According to a report by the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, since the1970s foreign postdocs were the fastest growing segment of postdoctoral fellows in the life sciences, jumping from a quarter of the pool in 1970 to dead even (50%) with U.S. scientists by 1992. By 2002, the report notes that foreign postdocs in American labs outnumbered U.S. postdocs by 23 percent. The same report notes that about three-quarters of these graduate students remained in American after their training.

These foreign postdocs, who have in many ways fueled the biotechnology revolution in America, have proven a great bargain for American science. Many received their undergraduate education in their native lands (an economic bonus), and then flocked to America to offer their brains and diversity in return for a chance to use - and improve - American technology.

Yet the combination of cuts in government funding and difficulties in attaining temporary visas since September 11th may end this once mutually beneficial relationship.

Despite the ever-changing global environment the United States has continued to be viewed as a technological leader. But without the diversity of inquiry offered by foreign students and the funds to encourage innovation, we run the real risk of falling - quickly -- behind.

While it will be true that two underserved populations - those not in the Ivy League and foreign students - will bear the brunt of the funding cuts, the biggest loser may be the United States. Building new technologies takes time, but losing your edge - witness the many countries who have leapt to fill the vacuum left by our political censure on stem cell research -- is terrifyingly easy.

Where does good science come from? Judging by the impressive success over the past thirty years in American biotechnology, from a young and diverse group of scientists from across the globe, working on common problems, who have benefited from the best training, technology and support American labs can offer.

But as we make it more difficult for students to attain temporary visas, and cut funds that once supported their work, the question is not whether or not this answer will remain true, but rather for how long?

Antonio Giordano is the Director of Biotechnology and the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at Temple University. He can be reached at Giordano@temple.edu

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April 2006 Issue

The Promise of Peptides

By Ilene Raymond
Editor-in-Chief
April 1, 2006

Fighting dangerous microbes has become increasingly difficult as many bacterial strains have become resistant to antibiotics.

To respond to this problem, Laszlo Otvos, Jr., PhD, research professor and director of drug development at the Sbarro Institute of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine has developed an antimicrobial peptide - a fragment of a larger protein found in a certain insect - that can identify resistant bacteria and target it for destruction. This March, Otvos was awarded a patent for his discovery, which he hopes will lead to a new class of peptide based antibiotic drugs. Another patent application of the inventor, identifying an unprecedented mode of action of this particular class of novel antibiotics is currently in the prosecution stage.

Along with the antimicrobial response of this peptide, Otvos' lab also identified the specific segments of the antimicrobial peptide that kill bacteria and the segments responsible for entering the cell to destroy it.

“Knowing how the peptides penetrate cells may be important for future drug delivery systems, against bacteria and deranged human cells alike,” says Otvos.

Otvos, who earlier this year left the Wistar Institute where he was an associate professor in immunology, was also part of a research team who recently announced promising developments in a cancer vaccine for melanoma.

Scientists working on the cancer vaccine employed a peptide that was designed by Otvos, found in about 70 percent of melanoma cells, to boost immune cells called killer T cells to identify and attack cancerous cells. Although a melanoma vaccine based on these discoveries has not yet been tested in humans, researchers estimate that the drug may eventually be effective in about a third of melanoma patients.

Otvos also designed and manufactured a prototype of a universal flu vaccine co-developed by his biologist partner, professor Walter Gerhard of Wistar. The vaccine, which passed the scrutiny of mouse testing and is currently in larger animal trials, would include protection against the avian flu, A (H5N1).

Present flu vaccines trigger the development of antibodies that target two specific proteins that sit on the influenza virus, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). The new vaccine sets its sights on M2, a much smaller protein that doesn't attract much of a response from the immune system.

“What makes M2 attractive is its stability,” Otvos explains. “Unlike the other two proteins, it doesn't mutate as much. This means that a vaccine based on M2 doesn't need to be changed every time the virus evolves and that the vaccine protection will last much longer.”

Otvos' contribution to the universal vaccine is a synthetically engineered peptide that will prompt the body to attack the relatively stable M2 protein. Several qualities make a synthetic peptide attractive: if it is eventually approved for use, the vaccine will be much easier to produce at higher levels of purity than egg-based vaccines. It also could be inhaled nasally, avoiding the pain of an injection.

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April 2006 Issue

Q & A: Data Sharing on the Avian Flu

By Pierpaolo Basso
SHPress Editor
April 1, 2006

Avian flu has proved an intrepid traveler, moving from Asia to Europe to Africa, with most experts anticipating its arrival in America this spring. As A (H5N1) crossed shores, the fear that it might spark a worldwide human pandemic has grown, along with the search for a protective vaccine.

To Dr. Ilaria Capua, head of virology for the OIE/FAO Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie in Padova, Italy, the spread of the A (H5N1) virus prompted worries that proprietary interests may prevent researchers from sharing critical information for vaccine to combat the virus.

In response, she has embarked on a one-woman email campaign to contact major researchers across the globe to encourage them to share all of their scientific data concerning the A (H5N1).

Why did you send that email?

First, I want to say that I'm a researcher and I believe in “intellectual property”. But, after that, I feel we have a larger, public responsibility when faced with a possible pandemic. The email (sent on last February 16) tries to encourage all researchers to share their bird-flu samples and discoveries in the name of global health.

What nations are at the most risk?

The poorest nations will suffer the highest risk. The lack of food security could create great hardship in these populations in a very short time.

Have you been contacted by the World Health Organization (WHO)?

Last month we received a sample of the A (H5N1) bird virus from Nigerian health authorities. The virus attacked birds in Nigeria, representing the first confirmed case of the disease in Africa. Within days of isolating the virus, WHO offered me a chance to enter the finding into the closed database system maintained by the organization in Geneva, but I declined.

What was the specific offer?

They offered me the chance to deposit the virus's genetic information, or sequence, into a database that would be shared with 15 labs. In exchange, I would be given the password to the WHO's massive stash of data.

But I refused. Instead I posted the gene sequence in the public world database of Genbank, so that anyone interested could have access to the information.

How many researchers answered your public appeal?

A huge number. More than I could imagine.

What would you like to see come of this?

It's important to closely monitor the occurrence of adaptive mutations and compare genetic sequences of many viruses obtained in other parts of the world. The OIE/ FAO Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza at the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie in Padova, Italy invites other scientists to follow the line of conduct of Italian, UK, French, Croatian and Slovenian veterinary virologists to deposit A (H5N1) sequences into public databases as soon as they are available.

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April 2006 Issue

Mechanisms of Endocrine Resistance in Breast Cancer Therapies Reviewed

By Ilene Raymond
Editor-in-Chief
April 1, 2006

A review article examining the mechanisms of resistance of breast cancer cells to endocrine therapy shows that with each anti-estrogen therapeutic action to block the stimulation of breast cancer cells, tumor cells react to escape attempts to block their growth. The article, published in the December issue of Endocrine-Related Cancer, has attracted wide interest in the scientific community.

The paper summarizes current knowledge on the resistance mechanisms of breast cancer cells to endocrine manipulation therapies.

“In particular, we provided a provocative hypothesis on the mechanisms through which the selective pressure of hormonal agents leads breast cancer cells from an estrogen-dependent, responsive to endocrine manipulation phenotype to a non-responsive phenotype, and eventually to an estrogen-independent phenotype,” says author Nicola Normanno, associate professor for the Sbarro Health Research Organization. “Our analysis revealed that resistance to hormonal treatments is a step by step phenomenon.”

Knowledge of the molecular mechanisms involved in endocrine-resistance offers potential for novel therapeutic strategies. The scientists plan to use their findings as a rationale for clinical studies planned at the National Cancer Institute of Naples within the activities of the NCI Naples Breast Cancer Group.

For more see: http://erc.endocrinology-journals.org/

Nicola Normanno, Massimo Di Maio, Ermelinda De Maio, Antonella De Luca, Andrea de Matteis, Antonio Giordano, Francesco Perrone, on behalf of the NCI Naples Breast Cancer Group. Mechanisms of endocrine resistance and novel therapeutic strategies in breast cancer Endocr Relat Cancer Dec 01, 2005 12: 721-747.

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April 2006 Issue

Health Briefs: Insurance, Sun Exposure & Calories

By Ilene Raymond
Editor-in-Chief
April 1, 2006

Massachusetts: Coverage for All

Massachusetts has become the first state to require residents to have some form of health insurance coverage. Lawmakers maintain that by providing every citizen with health insurance, costs of health care may actually fall. The bill will go into effect on July 1, 2007.

Sun Exposure Reduces Risk

Vitamin-D related sun exposure, particularly in early life, might lower the risk of breast cancer, according to a study from Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. Preliminary data found that exposure to Vitamin D from the sun and food sources, including cod liver oil, fortified milk and some types of fish, was associated with a reduced risk of breast cancer.

The study compared 576 women between 20 and 59 who had been diagnosed with breast cancer with 1135 healthy subjects. Women who spent the highest number of hours outdoors between ages 10 to 19 were shown to have the lowest risk for breast cancer.

Fewer Calories, Longer Life?

Drop your fork and lengthen your years, according to preliminary results of a new study that shows that eating less can prevent heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other diseases. The study, sponsored by the National Institute on Aging, reveals that calorie restriction may also slow the aging process, even in those who are not presently obese.

The study followed 48 people who ranged from slightly to 30 pounds overweight. Over six-months, most reduced their calories by 25 percent, but some had their caloric intake cut to 890 calories per day.

Findings revealed that calorie restriction reduced both insulin levels and body temperature, both traits in long-lived people. It also reduced thyroid hormones and slowed DNA damage.

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