storyofadrug
ideas_researchpaper_walterreedarmyinstitute_rockvillemaryland
An exciting avenue for getting ideas about how a new drug might work is looking at individuals who are naturally immune or resistant to the disease. Steve Crohn lived in San Franciso in the 1970s, and lost his lover and 70 close friends to AIDS without having become infected himself. Blood tests suggested that his blood was impervious to HIV… Research found that a receptor on Steve’s blood cells called CCR2, that usually lets HIV into the cell, refused to budge – like a closed door on infection. People with mutations in the gene also showed reduced susceptibility, and a better prognosis. Importantly, Steve and others like him show no other bad effects of the mutation, suggesting that a drug that mimicked its effects would not damage other functions.
The next step is to use this knowledge to develop a drug in the ‘discovery’ phase…
This photo shows the Walter Reed Army Research Institute in Rockville, Maryland USA, where some of the initial research about CCR2 was carried out.
ideas_researchpaper_walterreedarmyinstitute_rockvillemaryland
An exciting avenue for getting ideas about how a new drug might work is looking at individuals who are naturally immune or resistant to the disease. Steve Crohn lived in San Franciso in the 1970s, and lost his lover and 70 close friends to AIDS without having become infected himself. Blood tests suggested that his blood was impervious to HIV… Research found that a receptor on Steve’s blood cells called CCR2, that usually lets HIV into the cell, refused to budge – like a closed door on infection. People with mutations in the gene also showed reduced susceptibility, and a better prognosis. Importantly, Steve and others like him show no other bad effects of the mutation, suggesting that a drug that mimicked its effects would not damage other functions.
The next step is to use this knowledge to develop a drug in the ‘discovery’ phase…
This photo shows the Walter Reed Army Research Institute in Rockville, Maryland USA, where some of the initial research about CCR2 was carried out.