Subject: Japan Researchers Find AIDS Antibody They Say Kills Infected Cells, Not Others 
Date: Published: 10/24/89 (84 lines)
Source:  Wall Street Journal.  Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc. 

    Technology:
    Japan Researchers Find AIDS Antibody
    They Say Kills Infected Cells, Not Others
    ----
    By Jacob M. Schlesinger
    Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

    TOKYO -- Two Japanese scientists said they discovered an
 antibody that, in laboratory test-tube experiments, kills
 AIDS-infected cells while preserving healthy cells.
    If further experiments are successful, the work would
 represent a major advance in research on acquired immune
 deficiency syndrome.  The drug AZT, the only treatment
 currently on the market, claims only to help stop the spread
 of AIDS, not to cure it.
    But several analysts and Japanese scientists familiar with
 the study, which was announced at a conference in Nagoya
 yesterday, expressed skepticism over the significance of the
 results.  And the researchers themselves acknowledged they
 still must do much more work before they can say whether the
 treatment would actually cure humans.
    Shin Yonehara, a research scientist at the Tokyo
 Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, said the antibody
 he discovered works by recognizing an antigen called a
 Fas-antigen, which is characteristic of an infected cell.  The
 antibody then kills the cell.
    Dr. Yonehara and his partner, Nobuyuki Kobayashi of
 Yamaguchi University, said their experiments showed that the
 antibody wiped out an average of 60% of AIDS-infected cells
 within three days.  In some of the experiments, it killed
 almost all the infected cells, the researchers said.
 Meanwhile, fewer than 10% of the healthy cells were killed.
    The two said they must still do more laboratory tests,
 then experiment on animals.  They said they hoped to conduct
 tests on human patients in the U. S. by late next year.  Japan
 doesn't have enough AIDS patients to do significant
 experimentation in that country, they said.
    The announcement got wide exposure in the Japanese media,
 and even moved some pharmaceutical stocks yesterday.  But
 Takashi Kitamura, director of the biology department at
 Japan's National Institute of Health and secretary of the
 government's AIDS-research center, said, "I'm not so
 optimistic of its future use in therapeutic methods."  He said
 some infected cells may not have the relevant antigen and so
 wouldn't be killed even after exposure to the antibody.
    "The results seem to be very premature," said Mitsuru
 Miyata, editor of Nikkei Biotechnology, a leading Japanese
 industry newsletter.
    Dr. Kobayashi responded that he thought the antibody could
 potentially kill all infected cells.  But he and Dr. Yonehara
 said there were still several uncertainties, particularly
 regarding possible side effects.  "Our antibody specifically
 killed infected cells at a very low dose, but it can also
 kill other cells," said Dr. Yonehara.  "We don't know the
 effect of our antibody on the human body."
    AIDS isn't considered a widespread problem in Japan -- the
 government reports about 1,000 known carriers of the virus --
 but many companies have poured substantial resources into
 research in recent years, hoping to cash in on a possible
 cure.
    Dr. Kitamura said about 35 projects are currently under
 way in Japan, and that Japanese researchers in the past year
 have made available three possible cures to American
 researchers for clinical tests.  He said that when scientists
 from the two countries meet again in January in New Orleans,
 the Japanese will present at least three more drugs for human
 testing.
    AZT is the world's only prescription medicine approved for
 treating the disease.  Wellcome PLC, a major British
 pharmaceutical maker, sells the drug under the name Retrovir.
    A Wellcome spokesman declined to comment on the discovery
 of the antibody in Japan.  But Andrew Porter, a drug-industry
 analyst at Nikko Securities Co. in London, said if the
 product were to be successfully developed it would represent
 "a potential threat to the long-term viability of Retrovir."

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