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Biotech / Medical : EntreMed (ENMD) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Linda Pearson who wrote (1820)	3/15/1999 10:49:00 PM
From: Jon Koplik	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2135

Here is the WSJ's article on the Duke University stuff. If this came out after the close of trading today (it is not absolutely clear), then it may be a big plus for tomorrow (?) March 15, 1999 Researchers Find Enzyme That Fuels Cancer Growth Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Researchers found an enzyme that helps build the blood vessels that feed the growth of cancerous tumors, a major step toward finding new drugs to attack the disease. Researchers at Duke University in Durham, N.C., report that they have found -- on the surface of cells inside blood vessels -- a type of enzyme, called ATP synthase. The enzyme apparently provides the energy for the growth of blood vessels, said Dr. Salvatore V. Pizzo, a member of the Duke team and co-author of a study appearing Tuesday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Without such energy, he said, tumors can never grow beyond the size of a pin head. Researchers in many labs have recently been studying the growth of blood vessels that supply cancer tumors with oxygen and nutrients -- searching for possible ways to shut off that blood vessel growth. The research intensified after Dr. Judah Folkman of Children's Hospital in Boston showed that a compound he calls angiostatin could stop tumor growth in mice by blocking the formation of blood vessels. In all, a number of compounds that can block blood vessel formation have been discovered. In fact, a separate paper in Proceedings on Tuesday reports on isolating such a substance from cartilage. Researchers have been able to isolate angiostatin, which also occurs naturally in the body, and synthesize it in laboratories. But exactly how angiostatin and similar compounds work has not been known. The Duke discovery may be the answer. "Until now, people knew that angiostatin blocked blood vessel growth, but there was no obvious mechanism," said Dr. Pizzo. "Now we know why it works." The study "is a big jump ahead," said Dr. Folkman, " ... because it identifies a protein that binds [attaches to] angiostatin" and suggests how angiostatin prevents blood vessel growth. The discovery puts researchers on track to isolate a compound from angiostatin that could work more directly to block blood vessel formation, he said. The discovery of ATP on the surface of endothelial cells, the lining of blood vessels, came as a surprise, said Dr. Pizzo. The enzyme was previously found only inside cells. "ATP is what the cells use as a fuel, as an energy source," said Dr. Pizzo. "It is present inside the cell, in the mitochondria, and is the little energy factory for the cell." The enzyme apparently is activated when the blood's oxygen content is lowered. Nature may have designed ATP as a healing mechanism, to build new vessels so the body can repair tissue damaged by injury or disease, said Dr. Pizzo. "Tumors are that way," he said. "Tumors tend to take advantage of a normal mechanism in the body and then exaggerate it to their own growth advantage." When tumors do form, cells in the center of the growth are deprived of oxygen. That may trigger the formation and action of ATP, said Dr. Pizzo. With a better understanding of how ATP causes blood vessels to grow, researchers also might be able to use the enzyme to promote beneficial blood vessel growth, such as in heart disease or diabetes, Dr. Pizzo said. Copyright © 1999 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.