Faculty Bibliography

Mr. [Chow] challenged conventional medical wisdom on avoiding drug resistance: Usually combinations of drugs are aimed a different steps in the life cycle of a microbe. Instead he used a combination of three drugs that targeted a single component of the H.I.V. virus, an enzyme that makes copies of the virus's genetic material

The evidence that vasectomies are safe despite two studies reported in Feb 1993 that suggested a preliminary link between the sterilization procedure and prostate cancer is discussed. The procedure is described and its use as birth control in the US and abroad is discussed

The British journal 'Nature' reported on Feb 18, 1993 that a medical student in Massachusetts general hospital has developed a strategy for combating HIV. The strategy involves aiming a combination of three drugs at the same component of HIV. In test tubes, the drugs have stopped the virus' growth

A medical research team has reported in the British scientific journal Nature that a medical student has found what Massachusetts General Hospital says 'may be the Achilles' heel of HIV,' the virus that causes AIDS, and has developed a drug strategy that has prevented infection of healthy human cells grown in a test tube and successfully treated HIV cells that had been infected

A medical student has found what Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston says 'may be the Achilles' heel of HIV,' the virus believed to cause AIDS, and has developed a novel drug strategy that eliminates the virus from human cells grown in test tubes. Last week the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., chose 10 medical centers throughout the country to test Chow's therapy concept in 200 patients with advanced HIV-infection, said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, an NIH official. The institutes said they were not yet ready to announce the names of the 10 centers. HIV has long been known to mutate and to become resistant to AZT, ddI and other drugs. Chow's strategy is designed to force HIV to produce several drug-resistance mutations simultaneously in a crucial viral enzyme called reverse transcriptase

The strategy involves using a combination of three known drugs against the same component of HIV, an enzyme that makes copies of the virus' genetic material. In test tubes, the combination of drugs has blocked the virus from growing and from spreading to other cells, the Massachusetts General Hospital team reports today in the journal Nature. The scientists noted that the test-tube strategy apparently prevented infection of healthy cells and successfully treated HIV in cells that had been infected. HIV has long been known to mutate and to become resistant to AZT, ddI and other drugs. Chow's strategy is designed to force HIV to produce several drug-resistance mutations simultaneously in a crucial viral enzyme called reverse transcriptase. The team tested several combinations of drugs and found them ineffective. But AZT, ddI and pyridinone in combination prevented HIV replication. When the drugs were stopped 21 days after infection, no viral replication was observed for the subsequent 30 days and no evidence of HIV could be detected

A medical student has found what Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston says 'may be the Achilles' heel of HIV,' and he has developed a novel drug strategy that eliminates the AIDS virus from human cells grown in the test tube. The strategy involves targeting a combination of three known drugs against the same component of HIV, an enzyme that makes copies of the virus' genetic material. In test tubes, the drug combination blocked the virus from growing and from spreading to other cells, the team reported today in the scientific journal Nature. The scientists noted that the test-tube strategy apparently prevented infection of healthy cells and successfully treated HIV in cells that had been infected. The authors of the paper approved the news release from Massachusetts General saying they may have found the Achilles' heel of HIV. But they and other experts emphasized they did not want to create false hope. Researchers cautioned that medicine is full of examples of substances that seemed promising at the test-tube stage but failed to make viable drugs, either because they were ineffective in patients or because they caused unacceptable side effects

Two new studies linking vasectomies to a higher incidence of prostate cancer are detailed

The new compound does not belong to any known class of chemicals or antibiotics, the scientists said, and its name, squalamine, is derived in part from Squalus acanthias, the Latin name of the dogfish shark in which it was first found. The dogfish is the most plentiful of all sharks. While they have no proof, researchers think squalamine is also found in other species of shark. Squalamine has not been tested in humans. But Dr. Michael A. Zasloff, who headed the research team from Magainin Pharmaceuticals in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., that discovered squalamine, said experiments may determine which infections in humans will respond to squalamine. Before squalamine can be tested in humans, scientists need to learn more about its pharmacology and metabolism. But an important obstacle in the research was an inability to compare squalamine with other chemicals, Zasloff said, adding, 'I don't know where it fits in in the chemical world.'

A compound derived from shark tissue may hold promise in the treatment of infections by a variety of bacteria, fungi and parasites, according to a Feb 15, 1993 report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences