Word: nih
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...doctors intend to inject cells containing a gene from the bacterium E. coli into cancer patients at NIH. The gene itself will have no therapeutic power, but it will help the researchers monitor the effectiveness of an antitumor treatment. More important, the transplantation techniques being developed for the experiment could someday be used to cure several genetic ills, possibly including Huntington's disease, sickle-cell anemia and some types of muscular dystrophy. Says NIH director James Wyngaarden: "We have reached an important milestone in medical history...
...work combines the efforts of three top NIH scientists: Steven Rosenberg, an expert in cancer therapy, and W. French Anderson and R. Michael Blaese, two master gene manipulators. For several years Rosenberg has been developing a novel cancer treatment using a type of cancer-fighting cell called TILs (tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes). He removes TILs from cancer patients and clones large quantities of the cells in the laboratory. When this army of cells is reinjected into the patients, their tumors can shrink significantly. In one experiment with metastatic melanoma patients, 60% of them benefited from the therapy. But Rosenberg still needs...
This limited test is only the beginning. The NIH researchers and others elsewhere are planning to transplant genes that could actually help people fight cancer and other diseases. For example, scientists hope to give patients genes that will enable their bodies to mass-produce such anticancer agents as interleukin-2 and tumor necrosis factor. Anderson believes the day is not far off when it will be possible to transplant a gene containing instructions for the manufacture of CD4, a substance that combats the AIDS virus. Ultimately, researchers think they may be able to conquer some hereditary diseases by replacing defective...
...youngsters -- mostly boys -- may suffer from the baffling syndrome. Doctors disagree about what causes hyperactivity, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as it is now known. Everything from brain damage to stress, food allergies or radiation from TV sets has been suggested. The NIH says the problem is probably a combination of as yet elusive genetic, environmental, neurological or biochemical factors. Diagnosis is difficult, since there is no laboratory test for the disorder, and the symptoms are vague and confusing. "Hyperactivity is in the eyes of the beholder," notes James Kavanagh, an NIH behavioral scientist...
Tensions, however, have eased in recent months. In February a committee of the National Academy of Sciences strongly endorsed the project. Currently, NIH and DOE are hammering out a memo of understanding that will lay out how the two agencies will work together. Watson's appointment is certain to erase any lingering fears among bioscientists; his presence ensures that NIH will not take a backseat to any other agency. Says Nobelist David Baltimore, director of M.I.T.'s Whitehead Institute and once an outspoken critic of the federal genome project: "I'm convinced that with Watson as a guiding force, there...