THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK
Elimination of Some Dangerous Diseases Predicted
search which shows that the action of many drugs is d u e to their influence on enzyme activity. This activity, he asserted, may b e blocked by chemical agents which structurally resemble prosthetic groups of the enzyme and compete with them, there by preventing synthesis of the enzyme. This mode of action was true, for in stance, for the sulfonamides and various Β vitamin analogs and explains their dele terious action on microbes. A basic problem, however, is offered by t h e cell's permeability. The site of drug action within the cell includes the fundamental question of cell permeability. Proteins, among them hormones such as insulin, act at t h e cell surface a n d the study of their mode of action holds val uable possibilities. Important cell nutri ents, such as glucose, must reach t h e cell interior. H o w are they transferred across the cell wall? It was an intricate mechanism, still un known, t h e speaker said, whereby t h e energy needed to change t h e permeability of the cell is liberated by contact between the nutrient and the cell. T h e study of the sources of that energy may provide the means for further elucidation of how drugs act.
jective, he said, is to find the exact na RENSSELAER, N. Y . - N e w means of im ture of the difference b e t w e e n virulent munity against infectious diseases and t h e strains which produce disease a n d "aviruelimination of some of the more dangerous lent" strains. ills entirely was forecast by eminent re Since the establishment of the nature searchers in the fields of medicine and re of chemical changes which accompany lated sciences, during a symposium which the mutation of tobacco virus, more than marked the opening of a new laboratory 300 different viruses capable of causing by t h e Sterling-Winthrop Research Insti disease in man, animals, and plants have tute here, May 17 a n d 18. been discovered. A dozen have been ob Maurice L. Tainter, director of the in tained in highly purified form. stitute, presided at t h e symposium which T h e larger viruses have a composition heard three Nobel Prize winners as and properties which a r e characteristic speakers. James Hill, Jr., president of not of molecules, but of organisms. This Sterling Drug, Inc., dedicated the new he viewed as a new link b e t w e e n the building to the "advancement of h u m a n molecules of the chemist and the organ welfare," and a dinner which followed isms of the biologist. General opinion was addressed by Gov. Thomas E. Dewey was that viruses are merely altered pro of N e w York and b y Theodore Klumpp, tein molecules with the property of selfpresident of Winthrop-Stearns. propagation. Nobel winners w h o spoke hopefully of At present, Dr. Stanley said, it is now man's scientific attack on disease were known whether viruses reproduce by fis Rene Dubos, Rockefeller Institute of sion or by means of some n e w process. Medical Research; Otto Loewi, New York Solution of this puzzle may well repre University; and Wendell M. Stanley, Uni sent the fundamental process w h i c h char versity of California. Mothball Plastic Available acterizes all living things. I n chemistry, Dr. Dubos thought that science was on analysis of the different types of viruses the threshold of achieving the means for T h e "mothball" plastic, Cocoon, which may lead to n e w methods of rehabili immunity against such diseases as tuber has been reserved for the military since tating dead tissue. I n genetics, additional culosis, meningitis, influenza, and pneu its wartime development, is now available knowledge of t h e mechanism of inheri monia. Today, new improved substances, for civilian use, R. M. Hollingshead Corp. tance may b e found. which are selected components of viru of Camden, N. J., has announced. The lent bacteria, may b e synthesized for in plastic, which has h a d wide use in preser Eradication of All jection to produce resistance to infection. Infectious Diseases Seen vation of U. S. air and naval equipment, But the chemotherapy of infectious dis forms a waterproof roof surface and, when Dr. Loewi, who discovered in 1902 eases need not be limited to antimicrobial sprayed on buildings, forms a continuous that animals are able to synthesize their therapy, h e held. D r u g s can and will be plastic seal with none of the usual seams own protein from amino acids a n d who found to reverse t h e biochemical lesions and overlaps. is now professor of pharmacology at New produced by toxic microbial activities. York University, said that prospects were It is designed to be fire-resistant and Dubos stated that once the immunizing bright for the complete eradication of all waterproof and provides a degree of insula substances specific for each infectious infectious diseases, including those caused tion. Contracting and expanding with agent have been isolated, it becomes by viruses, in t h e near future. temperature changes, Cocoon also is said theoretically possible to determine their to resist the action of mold, mildew, spray The discovery of drugs toxic to microbes chemical structure and the nature of the salt, and many industrial acid fumes. but not to the host, he thought, was one groups which direct the immune reac Applied as a liquid, it becomes solid from of the most significant achievements of tions. Definite results along this line contact with t h e air. medicine. His paper discussed recent re have b e e n obtained in the instance of pneumococcus infection. Sterling-Winthrop's new laboratory at Rensselaer Injection into experimental animals of certain conjugates of aldobionic a c i d s acids which are components of t h e cap sular substances of virulent pneumococci —was found to elicit in these animals a definite level of immunity against infec tion. T h e speaker held it unlikely that eradication of infectious diseases could b e achieved only through sanitation a n d antimocrobial therapy. He foresaw a shift in emphasis back to prevention rather t h a n treatment or cure. Dr. Stanley, n o w director of t h e virus laboratories a t t h e University of Cali fornia, felt t h a t quicker and more effective diagnosis of virus-produced diseases, such as polio, virus pneumonia, meningitis, a n d m u m p s , may be achieved in the near fu t u r e through new virus research. T h e o b
1926
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