Drs. Tongqing Zhou and Barna Dey have played a major role in the recent AIDS discovery made at the Vaccines Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases that was featured in the February 15 issue of Nature. Dr. Dey received her Ph.D. from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, and Dr. Zhou was a postdoctoral associate with Dr. Barry Rosen, chair of the department. Dr. Zhou also received his master’s degree in computer engineering from Wayne State’s College of Engineering.

Under the leadership of Dr. Peter Kwong from NIAID, the studies lead author, Dr. Zhou, Dr. Dey and other researchers at NIAID have discovered and mapped a small piece of HIV’s outer coat that could be critical in developing a vaccine against this currently incurable disease. They have pinpointed a place on the outside of the human immunodeficiency virus that may be vulnerable to antibodies that could block it from infecting human cells.

This molecular target, according to the research team, which is a portion of the virus’ gp120 surface protein, does not appear to mutate between strains. It also binds to an antibody that’s already found in some humans. Finding a vaccine for HIV has been difficult because the organism mutates so much, constantly changing its outer sugary coating to elude detection. According to Dr. Kwong, “The trick has been to find a spot that stays the same between different strains and can also be accessed by antibodies that humans could produce in large numbers.”

Making atomic-level images of the virus, this team of researchers revealed the structure of the protein, gp120, on the surface of HIV as it looks while the protein is bound to an infection-fighting antibody. This protein seems susceptible to attack by this antibody, b12, and is capable of broadly neutralizing the virus.

The research group found that while the virus uses the protein gp120 to gain entry into the CD4 T-cells it infects, the antibody b12 can block this process. Because the b12/gp120 connection does not change its configuration regardless of the HIV strain it is found on, these AIDS researchers feel it is the type of non-mutating “site of vulnerability” that vaccines may target someday.

These new findings are hopeful in helping to find a vaccine to curb AIDS. The next step is to do important animal research to see if the antibodies can be produced in animals, which will make it quite straightforward in human testing. The process is long, but the outlook is hopeful and this is a major step forward.

“It’s exciting to think that what I’m doing at the lab bench today may help everyone in the future,” says Dr. Zhou. “Just imagine a world without AIDS!”
“We are proud of the accomplishments of our graduates and the contributions that they are making to understanding the structural basis of diseases like AIDS,” said Dr. Rosen.

For further information, see the full paper in the Feb. 15 issue of Nature.
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v445/n7129/index.html#rhighlts.

 

The WSU School of Medicine will offer a new graduate certificate in pediatric global health beginning this summer. The twelve-credit program will provide training to clinicians to promote understanding of the social, cultural, epidemiological and environmental factors that influence health outcomes in children, particularly in developing countries. By training physicians to better evaluate these factors, the program hopes to act as a catalyst to improve the overall well-being of children all over the world.

We would like to encourage our clinicians to explore the field of international child health as a career focus, said Deepak M. Kamat, M.D., Ph.D., professor and vice chair of education for the Department of Pediatrics. Since the major elements of this program are already informally in place for trainees in the Department of Pediatrics, we believe that formal academic credit through this certificate program will provide credibility to the student's knowledge base and future clinical practice.

The program's coursework will bring together several existing classes from the School of Medicine, the Law School and the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. In addition, students will complete a directed study that will provide both clinical and research experience. Collaborations have been initiated for the directed study with the Post Graduate Institute for Medical Education and Research, in Chandigarh, India; Guangxi Medical University, in Nanning, China; and Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda.

Program applicants will be required to hold existing M.D., M.D./Ph.D., or D.O. degrees. They must also be current medical residents, fellows-in-training, or clinical/medical faculty in the WSU School of Medicine, with graduate admission eligibility.

For more information about this program, please contact Dr. Kamat at dkamat@med.wayne.edu or visit http://bog.wayne.edu/meetings/2007/01-24/academicaffairs0107_itemu.pdf.

 

 

The drug nesiritide may be beneficial in the prevention of renal dysfunction after coronary artery bypass grafting requiring cardiopulmonary bypass, according to a paper published by Dean Robert M. Mentzer, Jr., M.D. "Effects of Perioperative Nesiritide in Patients with Left Ventricular Dysfunction Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: The NAPA Trial, was published in the Feb. 13 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Patients in the study were experiencing heart failure and had limited treatment options. Those taking nesiritide had improved outcomes, including shorter hospital stays and a statistically significant decrease in mortality rate after 180 days than patients receiving the placebo, according to the study, which was sponsored by Scios Inc.

"We discovered a statistically significant number of patients who received Natrecor® and recovered better than those who received the placebo," said Dr. Mentzer, Jr., who served as principal investigator. "Patients on nesiritide had significantly greater urine output within 24 hours after surgery and overall better preservation of kidney functioning during hospitalization as well as two weeks after surgery."

The prospective, multi-center, double-blind Phase 2 NAPA (Nesiritide Administered Peri-Anesthesia in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery) trial of 279 randomized patients was designed to determine the role nesiritide may play in the management of patients with left ventricular dysfunction undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) that required cardiopulmonary bypass.

"These kidney, safety and mortality findings from the NAPA trial are encouraging as they suggest that nesiritide may provide important clinical benefit to heart failure patients undergoing CABG surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass," said Roger Mills, M.D., vice president, medical affairs at Scios. "We are assessing the design of a Phase 3 trial in cardiac surgery patients to further study this investigational use of nesiritide and will be submitting these data to the F.D.A."

Dr. Mentzer conducted the research and authored the paper with Mehmet C. Oz, M.D., F.A.C.C., Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; Robert N. Sladen, M.D., F.C.C.M., Department of Anesthesiology, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University; Allen H. Graeve, M.D., F.A.C.S., Multicare Cardiothoracic Surgical Associates, Tacoma General Hospital; Robert F. Hebeler, Jr., M.D., Department of Surgery, Baylor University Medical Center; John M. Luber, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S., Franciscan Health System Research Center, Tacoma; and Nicholas G. Smedira, M.D., F.A.C.C., Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, The Cleveland Clinic.

To view the paper, please visit http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/short/49/6/716.

An Association of American Medical Colleges report reveals that its member medical schools and teaching hospitals had a combined economic impact of $451 billion on their states and the nation in 2005.

The report found that the 125 accredited U.S. medical schools and more than 400 major teaching hospitals represented by the AAMC employ nearly 1,670,000 individuals and are directly and indirectly responsible for more than 3 million full-time jobs one out of every 48 wage earners in the United States.

This $451.6 billion overall impact on the national economy takes into account the direct and indirect business volume generated by these institutions, including institutional spending; employee spending; and spending by patients, their families and visitors (excluding spending for patient care and medical services). According to the report, every dollar spent by a medical school or teaching hospital indirectly generates an additional $1.30 when it is "re-spent" on other businesses or individuals, resulting in a total impact of $2.30 per dollar.

Medical schools and teaching hospitals also generated more than $20 billion in state tax revenue in 2005 through income and sales taxes, corporate income taxes, and capital stock/franchise taxes paid by businesses that collect revenue from these institutions.

In addition, these institutions generated more than $15 billion in out-of-state medical visitor-related revenue in 2005, including direct spending in local communities by out-of-state patients and their friends and families. Medical schools and teaching hospitals are also major sponsors of meetings and conferences in their states, drawing a significant number of visitors whose spending boosts local economies.

The AAMC report, "The Economic Impact of AAMC-Member Medical Schools and Teaching Hospitals," does not include the economic impact of patient care-related spending at hospitals, nor does it account for the economic benefits of the community service programs and physician training programs that are the hallmark of academic medical institutions. This report was prepared for the AAMC by the consulting firm, Tripp Umbach.