Wednesday, May 27, 1998
Science Files
RESEARCH:
Slamon blocks cancer spreading
For the first time there is a drug that successfully fights the
most aggressive forms of breast cancer, by attacking them on a
molecular level.
Pioneered by Dr. Dennis Slamon, a principal investigator for the
studies and director of the Revlon/UCLA Women’s Cancer Research
Program, the drug mimics the body’s own immune system and shrinks
breast cancer tumors in women.
"Doing the same old same old therapy wasn’t getting us
anywhere," Slamon said.
"Maybe what we could do is try and do something new by studying
what was broken in cells," Slamon said, "and converting that into
something that could be therapeutic at the bedside."
Slamon’s research focuses on a gene that helps signal certain
cells to grow. A genetic alteration found in 30 percent of breast
cancer patients creates multiple copies of this gene, resulting in
an overproduction of protein which makes cancer cells grow
wildly.
The breakthrough drug, however, prevents chemical growth signals
from interacting with the excess proteins, effectively telling the
cancer cell to stop growing.
Although the early findings are promising, Slamon says there is
not enough information for statistically meaningful evaluations.
The drug has been submitted to the FDA for approval, which means it
could be available by the end of the year.
Karagozian hopes to lower emissions
In the not-too-distant future, high speed super-sonic commercial
aircraft will require flying close to the ozone layer to fly, while
potentially damaging it at the same time.
Engineers at UCLA, however, are determined to build
cleaner-burning engine and to save the environment to boot.
"Our goal is in reducing nitric oxide (NO) emissions," said Ann
Karagozian, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. "So,
that when the plane flies near the ozone layer, it is not going to
deplete the ozone layer – it’s going to be environmentally
compatible."
Karagozian’s team of scientists examines ways to control the
mixing of fuel and air which takes place inside the combustion
engines of aircraft.
One way to build a "leaner" engine and reduce NO emissions,
Karagozian says, is to rapidly mix the fuel and air before it
combusts in a lobe-fuel injector
Another approach uses acoustically driven pulses of fuel to
control the nature of the mixing.
Coupled with a system of sensors that monitor the changes in the
fuel, such as temperature, data can be sent back to the source of
the pulse to change the frequency.
In the real world, this translates to operating one way in
cruise control and another during take-off.
Dr. Dennis Slamon
Professor Ann Karagozian