UMDNJ Matters

To submit material for this section, contact Doris Cortes 973-972-7277 cortesdo@umdnj.edu

Book Review

Gene Therapy of Cancer
Translational Approaches from Preclinical Studies to Clinical Implementation,
edited by Edmund C.Lattime, PhD, and Stanton L. Gerson, MD
Academic Press

Much remains unknown about gene therapy, so the goal of this text is to offer a comprehensive review of how it evolves from laboratory technology to the benefit of patients through clinical trials.

Each section includes a compilation of topics submitted by experts in the field of gene therapy and cancer. They discuss the basic biology of cancer and its immunology, cancer therapeutic targets such as oncogenes, drug resistance pathways and tumor-specific antigens. They also explore therapeutic approaches, which include gene replacement therapies, retrovirus-mediated gene transfer, adenovirus gene transfer, tumor vaccines, engineered immunocompetent cells and cytokine gene therapy.

"This is a critical time in the evolution of gene therapy for cancer, now that the results of initial clinical trials are being coupled with the latest laboratory discoveries," says co-editor Edmund C. Lattime, PhD, associate director of education and training at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, and professor of surgery at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

The editors agree that since the clinical benefits of gene therapy remain an unrealized vision for the future, their text is a"work in progress."

The Gerontological Institute of New Jersey was established in July at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick with a $900,000 startup grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation of Princeton.

The new institute"without walls" is a cooperative effort committed to improving the quality of health care for the elderly and to educating health care providers. In addition to the many medical school departments that are already involved, the institute will include members from the Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, the Center for Applied Biotechnology and Medicine and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey.

Physicians and scientists will focus on diseases with a high prevalence in elderly people, including hypertension, diabetes and cancer. They plan to study depression and its association with chronic illness.

They will also launch studies on alcoholism and substance abuse, which, according to Elaine Leventhal, MD, director of the institute and professor of medicine at RWJMS, have become increasingly more common among the elderly.

"Our goal is to promote successful aging," says Leventhal."The institute will help our faculty share new knowledge about research findings with experts on aging nationwide, and to develop partnerships with such institutions as Rutgers and Princeton universities."

The institute has organized a series of seminars on disease prevention and health maintenance in elderly patients. More than 150 physicians attended the first session, held in September, where Kenneth Shine, MD, president of the Institute of Medicine at the National Academy of Science in Washington, D.C. was among the guest speakers.

Research Review

Treiman PREVENTING NONSTOP SEIZURES
In a new study of medications currently used by neurologists to treat status epilepticus, a life-threatening condition in which epileptic seizures recur one after another nonstop, the drug lorazepam was identified as the most effective treatment. The study, however, also shows that even lorazepam is effective only two-thirds of the time.

"These results underscore the critical need to develop new drugs for the treatment of this condition," said David Treiman, MD, chair of the Department of Neurology at UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, and principal investigator of the study.

As a pioneer in epilepsy research, Treiman said the study also indicated that physicians should not assume that a patient experiencing generalized convulsive epilepticus has responded adequately to medication based on visual evidence that the convulsion has ceased.

"Even if the convulsion stops in response to the treatment," he explains, "if a patient does not begin to recover consciousness, an EEG should be performed because the seizures may be occurring in the brain, causing even more serious neuronal damage."

The results of the five-year study, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, involved 600 patients at 16 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and six affiliated hospitals. The complete results are published in the September 17 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Grants

Michael Dunn, PhD, associate professor, Surgery, received a one-year, $74,730 grant from NIH to study "Autograft Fibroblasts and Neoligament Formation."

Celine Gelinas, PhD, associate professor, Biochemistry, CABM, received a three-year, $433,350 grant from NIH to study"Trans-Acting Function of the V- and C-REL Oncoprotein."

Masayori Inouye, PhD, professor and chair, Biochemistry, received a $50,000 gift from the Foundation of UMDNJ. He is the first recipient to receive the Foundation's 'Award for Outstanding Research Achievement."

N. Ronald Morris, MD, distinguished professor, Pharmacology, received a one-year, $191,504 grant from NIH to study 'Cytoplasmic Dynein Structure and Function."

John Pintar, PhD, professor, Neuroscience and Cell Biology, received a one-year, $145,980 grant from NIH to study"Prenatal Differentiation of the Pituitary Gland."

Monica Roth, PhD, associate professor, Biochemistry, received a two-year, $287,132 grant from NIH to study"Murine Retroviral Vectors Targeting Non-dividing Cells."

Stephen Schneider, MD, professor, Medicine, received a one-year, $69,720 grant from Bristol Myers Squibb to study 'Safety and Efficacy of Fixed Combination Metformin Glyburide Products as First Line Therapy in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Who Have Inadequate Glycemic Control with Diet and Exercise."

Frank Sonnenberg, MD, associate professor, Medicine, received a three-year, $691,497 grant from the National Library of Medicine for 'Decision Analytic Support for Clinical Guidelines."

Victor Stollar, MD, professor, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, received a one-year, $171,650 grant from NIH to study "Arbovirus Replications in Mosquito and Vertebrate Cells."

William Wadsworth, PhD, assistant professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, received a one-year, $123,776 grant from NIH to study "Extracellular Matrix and Axonal Guidance in C. Elegans."

Gail Zeevalk, PhD, associate professor, Neurology, received a five-year, $566,000 grant from NIH to study "Energy Metabolism, Dopamine Neurons and Neurotoxicity."

Publications:

"A Randomized Trial Comparing Symptomatic vs. Hemoglobin-level- driven Red Blood Cell Transfusion Following Hip Fracture," co-authored by Jeffrey Carson, MD, professor and chief, Medicine, et al., was in Transfusion, Vol. 38, 1998.

"Ethical Human Research: Theory and Practice," by David August, MD, associate professor, Surgery, and acting director, surgical oncology, CINJ, was in Cancer Therapeutics, Vol. 1, 1998.

"Prenatal Cocaine Exposure and Impulse Control at Two Years," by Margaret Bendersky, PhD, associate professor, Pediatrics, and Michael Lewis, PhD, University Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry, and director, Institute for the Study of Child Development, was in Cocaine: Effects on the Developing Brain, Vol. 846, 1998.

"The Metabolically-Obese, Normal-Weight Individual: Revisited," co-authored by Stephen Schneider, MD, professor, Medicine, was in Diabetes Journal, continued Vol. 47, 1998. He also co-authored "Bone Turnover and Insulin-like Growth Factor I Levels Increase After Improved Glycemic Control in Non-insulin-dependent Diabetes Mellitus," which was in Calcified Tissue International, Vol. 63, 1998.

Javier Escobar, MD, professor and chair, Psychiatry, wrote the leading commentary in the September issue of Archives of General Psychiatry on the topic of the Americanization of Mexican immigrants.

"The Dermatomyositis-Specific Autoantigen Mi2 is a Component of a Complex Containing Histone Deacetylase and Nucleosome Remodeling Activities" by Danny Reinberg, PhD, professor, Biochemistry, et al, was published in Cell 95:279-289.

"Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor Modulates Hippocampal Synaptic Transmission by Increasing N-methyl-D-aspartic" by Eric Levine, PhD, instructor, Neuroscience and Cell Biology, and Ira Black, MD, professor and chair, Neuroscience and Cell Biology, was in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, Vol 95.

"Adenocarcinoma Arising within a Testicular Metastasis" by Edita Bancila, MD, associate professor, Clinical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Rocco Ciocca, MD, assistant professor, Kenneth Cummings, MD, professor, and Robert Weiss, assistant professor, all in the Department of Surgery, et al, was in Urology, Vol 51.

"Maternal Asthma and Transient Tachypnea of the Newborn," by Mary Breckenridge, PhD, professor coterminus, Family Medicine, and George Rhoads, MD, professor, Environmental and Community Medicine, was published in Pediatrics, Vol 102.

Professional Activities:

Alice Gottlieb, MD, PhD, W.H. Conzen Chair in Clinical Pharmacology, and director, Clinical Research Center, presented "Psoriasis: Immune Solutions to Therapeutic Challenges" at the Immunodermatology Symposium hosted by the Technion in Israel. She also presented"Phase I Trial of Psoriasis with an Anti-CD11a(LFA-1) Monoclonal Antibody" at the International Investigative Dermatology meetings in Cologne, Germany.

Edward Johnson, PhD, professor, Psychiatry, was an invited participant in the Second International Conference on Pathological Gambling and Other Addictions in Barcelona.

John Kostis, MD, John G. Detwiler Professor of Cardiology, professor, Medicine and Pharmacology, chair, Medicine, presented "ACE Inhibitors as First Choice Drug in Hypertension" in Columbia and Peru. He also presented"The Epidemiology of Heart Disease: LVH as a Predictor of Risk" at a university conference in Budapest.

Lisa Michaels, MD, assistant professor, Pediatrics, presented "Gangrene in a Patient with Sickle Cell Disease" at the American Society of Pediatric Hematology.

Honors:

Gregory Borah, MD, professor, Surgery, was named president of the American Society of Maxillofacial Surgeons at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons, held in Boston, MA.

William N. Hait, MD, professor, Medicine and Pharmacology, and director, CINJ, was chosen New Jersey Medicine Person of the Year for 1998.

Paul Lioy, PhD, deputy director of EOHSI, received the Jerome J. Wesolowski Award from the International Society of Exposure Analysis for his contributions to the environment.

Harold L. Paz, MD, dean, was presented with the Melvyn H. Motolinsky Research Foundation's Distinguished Service Award for 1998.

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