Prof. Irun Cohen discovered that a key protein in pancreatic cells, known as HSP60, can prompt an attack by immune T cells. He later showed that injecting diabetic mice with a small fragment of HSP60 shuts down this immune response, preventing the progression of type 1 diabetes.
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DIAPEP 277, a vaccine based on Cohen’s research, was shown in clinical trials to alleviate the condition of people with juvenile (type 1) diabetes. It was originally produced by the Israeli company Peptor Ltd, and today is being developed by Aventis, one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies.
Interleukin-6, which, among its other effects, stimulates the production of red blood cells and helps control metastases, was first isolated and cloned by Prof. Michel Revel.
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Interleukin-6 was developed into a drug by InterPharm Laboratories Ltd. in Kiryat Weizmann, which uses it in advanced clinical trials.
Prof. Yair Reisner developed mice with functioning human immune systems. These laboratory animals can be used for research on a broad range of human diseases.
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XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. in Rehovot was set up to make use of Reisner’s technology. The company currently develops therapies for hepatitis B and C with the help of the mice. It is also developing drugs to treat other infectious diseases based on human antibodies.
Prof. Yair Reisner studied molecules of various sugars and sugar-binding proteins called lectins, which allow cells to identify one another and latch on. Reisner started this research while a graduate student under the guidance of Prof. Nathan Sharon.
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The lectin method is employed today to separate different types of bone marrow cells before transplantation in order to prevent rejection of the transplant. The method is used routinely to save the lives of “bubble children” born with immune deficiencies.
Prof. Leo Sachs was the first to use cells from the amniotic fluid surrounding the human fetus for diagnostic purposes. The procedure later became known as amniocentesis.
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Early applications, carried out in the 1950s, included detection of the sex of the fetus and additional evaluations. Today amniocentesis is a common medical practice in prenatal tests for various genetic defects.
Prof. Avraham Amsterdam revealed that theophylline, a widely used asthma drug, makes ovarian and lung cancer cells more vulnerable to common anticancer medications.
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Clinical trials in which theophylline is administered to lung cancer patients in combination with cancer drugs are under way at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center.
Prof. Mordhay Avron isolated and investigated the single-cell alga, Dunaliella, which is able to survive in extremely harsh surroundings, such as the highly saline water of the Dead Sea. Among the defense strategies allowing Dunaliella to exist under these difficult conditions is the production of beta carotene, today used as a food supplement.
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Beta carotene derived by an Institute-developed process from local Dunaliella algae is produced in Eilat by Nikken Sohonsha Company, which exports the product for sale as a food supplement in Japan.
Prof. Emeritus Nechama Haran-Ghera, in collaboration with Israeli physicians, showed that the hormone erythropoietin may be helpful in treating multiple myeloma and other cancers. In mice injected with myeloma cells, the hormone prolonged survival, caused tumor regression and reduced mortality.
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Haran-Ghera’s research provided the scientific basis for clinical trials of erythropoietin in multiple myeloma and for testing the effects of this hormone on other types of cancer.
In the 1980s, Prof. Eli Canaani isolated two genes that abnormally swap pieces of genetic material and lead to the production of a fused protein that triggers chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). It was the first discovery of cancer produced by protein fusion.
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Canaani’s research provided the foundation for the development of Glivec (known as Gleevec in the US), the first drug based on the molecular understanding of a specific cancer. Produced by Novartis, it was approved in 2001 by the FDA and is now routinely prescribed around the world to patients with CML.
Since completing his Ph.D. in immunology at the Weizmann Institute, Prof. Zelig Eshhar has focused his research on molecular recognition in the immune system – the mechanisms by which immune cells and molecules "recognize" one another. In the late 1980s, he developed an immune cancer therapy that employs "T bodies" – white blood T cells engineered with receptors that possess the antibodies’ recognition unit, which helps them identify tumors.
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In August 2011, University of Pennsylvania researchers reported in The New England Journal of Medicine that they had successfully used this approach in a pilot trial of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. The patients were treated with their own T cells, genetically engineered based on Prof Eshhar’s method. Encouraged by this initial success, the researchers plan to apply the method to the treatment of other malignancies, including non-Hodgkin lymphoma, acute lymphocytic leukemia and childhood leukemia that is not alleviated by standard family. They also consider using the T bodies in patients with solid tumors, such as ovarian and pancreatic cancer.
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A Vaccine for Type 1 Diabetes
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