Combating Disease
HIGHLIGHTS
lmost 100 years ago, in 1909, the great German biochemist and Nobel Laureate
Paul Ehrlich conducted a series of experiments that ushered in the era of mod-
ern medicine. In his laboratory at the Royal Institute of Experimental Therapy
in Frankfurt, Ehrlich and his colleagues tested more than 900 different chemicals. They were
searching for what Ehrlich called a “magic bullet,” a medicine that would kill the microbe
that caused sleeping sickness but not the patient suffering from the disease.
These experiments failed to produce a treatment for sleeping sickness. However, chemical
number 606 in their search proved to have a remarkable effect on the then-newly discovered
microbe that caused syphilis. After testing this drug — in rabbits, mice, and then humans —
compound 606, which Dr. Ehrlich named Salvarsan, became the first chemotherapy agent in
medicine’s arsenal.
Chemotherapy today means anticancer medicine. Originally, it meant any chemical treatment. Salvarsan was the first chemical compound designed specifically to treat a human
disease. And Erhlich became the founder of modern chemotherapy.
Ehrlich task wasn’t finished, however. Salvarsan produced a number of toxic side effects.
Undaunted, Dr. Ehrlich and a team of chemists determined the correct structure of Salvarsan and then modified the chemical structure to make Salvarsan more harmful to the syphilis microbe and less harmful to patients.
◆ Anew “laboratory
on a chip” the size
of a sugar cube may
detect disease-causing bacteria by analyzing urine and saliva
flowing through
“pipes” the diameter
of a human hair.
◆ One new technology
is laying the foundation for diagnosing
cancer in minutes
from blood samples
or biopsies.
Living 30 Years Longer
Today, pharmaceuticals are the keystone of modern medicine. Their development, along
with other improvements in public health, have helped expand human life expectancy by
almost 30 years since the turn of the 20th century.
Think of where we would be without penicillin and cephalosporin, Lipitor and lisinopril,
doxorubicin and Dilantin. A half century ago, cancer was a death sentence. Today, there are
over 10 million cancer survivors. Twenty years ago, AIDS was invariably fatal. Today, people
infected with HIV take a single pill containing three drugs and are more likely to die of old
age than of AIDS.
◆ A new generation
of medications may
treat Alzheimer’s
disease and other
afflictions facing Baby
Boomers by correcting disorders in mitochondria – the cell’s
energy factories.
Great Advances/Great Challenges
But as great as the advances in medicine have been over the past century, enormous challenges remain if we are to make further substantial progress in the fight against disease and
its toll on society.
◆
◆ Researchers are dealing with the challenge of cancer cells
that become resistant
to chemotherapy
with a potent one-two technology that
makes cancer cells
self-destruct.
DID YOU KNOW?
Antibiotics, vaccines, and other advances against infectious diseases helped boost U.S.
life expectancy by 29 years during the 20th century.
Scientists have linked infection with bacteria and viruses to an increased risk of heart
disease, obesity, and other diseases.
Chronic in ammation, most familiar in arthritis, may also play a role in some forms
of cancer and heart disease.
21st-century medicine faces enormous challenges from bacteria that have grown
resistant to many antibiotics.
