Word: interferon
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...arduous testing process. Some of the most promising substances that researchers hope will soon reach the market: a human growth hormone that combats dwarfism, a protein that may stop heart attacks in progress, substances that diagnose sexually transmitted diseases like herpes, drugs for treating AIDS, and a form of interferon that can be used on several types of cancer...
...Kaposi's to use therapies that do not lead to further suppression of the immune system. Fauci of NIH has conducted a bone marrow transplant that bolsters a patient's immune system. Along with many other researchers, he is testing the effects on AIDS patients of new forms of interferon, a component of the human immune system that can now be reproduced by genetic engineering...
Optimism about AIDS is bolstered by new weapons being added to the medical arsenal. Interferon holds the promise of retarding the growth of cancerous cells. Potentially as powerful is a process that creates new cells called hybridomas. Cells that build antibodies against specific diseases are fused with tumor cells to make hybrids, which have the durability of tumors and the power to create antibodies. These cells may eventually be used to develop vaccines that will protect humans against new diseases and can help the body fight certain cancers...
Questions also remain about the miracle drug interferon. Genentech and Biogen of Switzerland have each developed a multipurpose form of the drug that is now being tested on humans and could be on the market by late 1984. So far, interferon is showing good results against a variety of noncancerous tumors but less promise against cancer. Says Biogen Chairman Dr. Walter Gilbert, a Nobel prizewinner: "The industry has proved it can make these drugs in commercial amounts. Whether they are useful against diseases like cancer and herpes, or even the common cold, depends on these medical tests...
...medical attention at the first signs of the disease. Often these include low-grade fever, swollen glands and general malaise. Early detection makes it easier to control infections with antibiotics and to treat Kaposi's by surgical excision of lesions, chemotherapy and, more recently, the experimental use of interferon. The discovery that Kaposi's is more likely to strike a certain genetic type has made high-risk individuals easier to identify...