Ferid Murad, MD, PhD: a conversation with the editor

[Gene expression profiling for prediction of response to chemotherapy]

Numerous genes whose expression is controlled by complex regulatory networks are involved in the development and progression of each cancer,and those genes will be the key factors for determining each characteristic of the tumor. The recent development of DNA microarray and related technologies provides an opportunity to perform more detailed characterization( profiling) of individual tumor cells. Indeed, the gene expression profile of a tumor provides a unique molecular portrait or signature that can be correlated with clinical behavior and drug responsiveness. The development of personalized( or customized) medicine and molecularly targeted drugs is enthusiastically awaited based on the results of research examining genomic diversity such as SNPs( single nucleotide polymorphisms), gene expression profiling with DNA microarrays, and analysis of protein expression and interactions.

Pharmacology of vascular endothelium

Sir John Vane named vascular endothelium 'the maestro of blood circulation'. Recently, 'the maestro' has become a target for pharmacotherapy of atherothrombotic and diabetic vasculopathies with well known cardio-vascular drugs belonging to the families of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme inhibitors, HMG CoA reductase inhibitors or beta1-Adrenoceptor antagonists. These drugs became upgraded to a position of the pleiotropic endothelial drugs. It is not a simple verbal change in the nomenclature. It means that these drugs apart from their well defined mechanisms of action, as indicated in their regular names, in addition they act in an unknown mechanism at the level of vascular endothelium preventing angina, myocardial infarction and stroke. Many biochemical events take place in endothelial cells. I chose for a closer inspection the nitric oxide/prostacyclin defensive system to explain the endothelial pleiotropism of the drugs in question. I tried to examine the validity of this conception according to the general rule: in vitro cognitio sed in vivo veritas.