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Pages 383-403

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From page 383... ... WILLIAM SMITH TILLETT July Jo, 1892-April 4, 1974 BY H SHERWOOD LAWRENCE S HAPPENS SO OFTEN in science, it is one of life's little Tillett's discovery of the bacterial protein streptokinase and his revolutionary idea of enzymatic therapy of thromboembolic disease had to take so long to reach its full flowering and current successful clinical application in the treatment of coronary thrombosis on a global scale. Read the entire page →
From page 384... ... He remained prouc! of the fact that at the completion of studies at Webb School students were eligible for admission to any college in America without qualifying examinations. Read the entire page →
From page 385... ... the opportunity to see the fabled Rockefeller Institute at firsthand. The next morning the chief resident told him of a new clinical department that ~ ~~ ~ A. V ~ ~ , _ A��a Read the entire page →
From page 386... ... Coming to the hospital of the Rockefeller Institute as assistant resident physician in September 1922, he was originally assigned to work on the program of viral diseases 1 ~ wltn or. 1 nomas lVl. Read the entire page →
From page 387... ... This "antibody" became known as the C-reactive protein. Their subsequent studies revealed that the acute-phase sera obtained from patients afflicted with the broact range of infectious diseases as well as noninfectious, inflammatory syndromes hacl the property of precipitating the C-fraction. Read the entire page →
From page 388... ... Colin MacLeod, in an appreciation of Dr. Francis upon his death, said of this work: Read the entire page →
From page 389... ... This is an enigmatic reaction whose function in man and animals is still unknown but which provides a useful clinical test to measure the activity of a variety of infectious processes, for example the activity of the inflammatory process in rheumatic fever. Francis and Tillett also discovered that minute amounts of specific capsular polysaccharides of pneumococcus injected intracutaneously in man cause the development of specific antibodies and that the antibodies are pro tectlve . Read the entire page →
From page 390... ... This led Tillett to take oxalatect human plasma containing fibrinogen that was unable to clot because of calcium clepletion and to adct hemolytic streptococci as potential absorbents of the soluble fibrinogen. He wisher! Read the entire page →
From page 391... ... Medical Division of Bellevue Hospital. It was probably no accident that he was succeeded in the chair of bacteriology in 193X by his long-time friend and collaborator from the Rockefeller Institute, Thomas Read the entire page →
From page 392... ... Avery agreed, and McCarty moved to the Rockefeller Institute, where he began to pursue the course that woulcI lead to his pivotal contributions to the delineation of the biochemical nature and establishment of the pneumococcal transforming principle as DNA. In later years Tillett would recall this incident with great admiration and affection for McCarty, modestly adcling that as much as he would have liked McCarty to stay with him, Read the entire page →
From page 393... ... it_ � 1 , 1 1 1~ T ~ _ 11 � ~1~ 1 ~ 1 ~ :onnery In hematology; and Norman Pollute In nepato~ogy. An additional asset to attract talented investigators was the backup afforded by a preeminent faculty in the basic sciences: Homer Smith and James Shannon in physiology; Severo Ochoa and Otto Loewi in pharmacology; Thomas Francis, fir., and then Colin MacLeou and Alwin Pappenheimer, Jr., in microbiology; Keith Cannan in biochemistry; Donal Sheehan in anatomy; and William van Glahn in pathology. Read the entire page →
From page 394... ... This precursor, a proenzyme named plasminogen, was detected in mammalian plasma ancl was found to be activated by streptokinase to become the enzyme plasmin.5 Then in 1948 TiTIett, Sherry, and Christensen discovered a new activity in the filtrates of broth cultures derived from several strains of hemolytic streptococci. They found that the addition of such filtrates to thick puruTent exudates resulted! Read the entire page →
From page 395... ... It was then established that the enzymes clic! not penetrate living cells and lysed only the extracellular nucleoprotein debris in patients with empyematous pulmonary exudates in viva, resulting in the transudation of fresh polymorphonuclear phagocytic cells. Read the entire page →
From page 396... ... P Fletcher and Alkjaersig which laid the foundation and charted the way for the current Global clinical application of streptokinase in the treatment of acute coronary thrombosis. Read the entire page →
From page 397... ... Tillett's findings using penicillin in pneumococcal lobar pneumonia led him to promulgate the idea that the tissue level of antibiotic, rather than the serum level, was the important Read the entire page →
From page 398... ... Ultimately, he demonstrate that with the combination of an intrapleural injection of penicillin plus streptokinase-streptodornase, this life-threatening complication of pneumococcal pneumonia was replacecl by a curable illness. This was a triumph of clinical science carried out and witnessed on a daily basis by a host of interns at Bellevue Hospital who hac! Read the entire page →
From page 399... ... The list was heaclec3 by Maclyn McCarty and included Ludwig Eichna, Sol Sherry, Saul Farber, Herman Eisen, Henry Kunkel, ant! Morris Ziff, all of whom have gone on to distinguished careers in science. Read the entire page →
From page 400... ... This felicitous turn of events was capped by an invitation from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for Tillett to become director of a newly conceived training program for young physicians with an interest in allergy and infectious diseases. Of course he accepted, and nothing made him happier than guiding and advising a succession of bright young physicians whom the program attracted to be launched on a full-time academic investigative career. Read the entire page →
From page 401... ... ~ 1952) for his discovery of streptokinase-streptodornase and delineation of its clinical applications. Read the entire page →
From page 402... ... Although he could be stern, he was at his softest with the patients he cared for at Bellevue Hospital. On grant! Read the entire page →
From page 403... ... The most prized and fitting memorial in addition to his impressive scientific achievements still stands on a plaque in the corridor of the Tillett Laboratories in Bellevue Hospital, his bequest to the young people of the future which he cherished above all his accomplishments: "These laboratories for Medical Research are named in Honor of William Smith Tillett Professor of Medicine New York University College of Medicine Director Third Medical Division Bellevue Hospital 1938-1958 They are a symbol of his guiding principle that research in the problems of disease is essential to good medical care of patients and proper instruction of students and physicians. Read the entire page →

From page 383...

... WILLIAM SMITH TILLETT July Jo, 1892-April 4, 1974 BY H SHERWOOD LAWRENCE S HAPPENS SO OFTEN in science, it is one of life's little Tillett's discovery of the bacterial protein streptokinase and his revolutionary idea of enzymatic therapy of thromboembolic disease had to take so long to reach its full flowering and current successful clinical application in the treatment of coronary thrombosis on a global scale.