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One relatively immediate application of this research aiay be in establishing a therapeutic index of the effect of treatment on eancers of the herpes- retatca types. tneh tevcts ot anuo.ooy to the nonvirion antigen persisting after therapy would be a sign that things were not going well, and, perhaps, treat- mcm etlulu Uc aU)ulleLL accun7ingiy. Conversely, an absence of antibody would be a good sign. Further in the future, Sabin says, is the prospect of a vaccine. Although he has been, for the last couple of years, an outspoken critic of the notion that there is any point in hoping for a vac- cine against cancer, he says that his skepticism is over the prospect as far as it applies to RNA viruses, not DNA ones like herpes. (bfost of the claims :°at ya ^, L,-n sw-1c u.' the diswvtrl of' a human cancer virus have been about RNA viruses, which, presumably, are vertically transmitted from cell to rci1, fro:.t ccseradion to generation. if so, everyone carzies these viru* from conception, ard the thougt,t' of vac- cinating again~t them in ai traditional sense is impractical. Furthcrmore, vir- tually all of these RNA viruses are known to be oncogenic. The potential hazards of injecting them in anyone are obv _ious.) But, as Sabin sees it, the situation with the herpcsviruses is different. "If;" he says, stressing the if, "w'e could- find strains of herpcsviruses that are infectious but are definitely not onco- genic, it might be possible to develop an attenuated vaccine which would produce immunity to all forms of herpes, includinF the oncogenic ones.' But that is a very long way away, if it happens at all." Nevertheless, Sabin. who only began working at the Fred- erick center in January, is optimistic about the chances. The woik that Sabin and Tarro have just completed after weeks of intensive effort began. in a sense, as IonF ago as 1965, whc.4 Tarro came to Sabin's laboratory in Cincinnati as a post- doctoral studcnt to learn virology. At the time. they were looking for ways to identify nom•irion antigens and pre- pare them for laboratory use by sep- arating them from thc virus antigens with which they are associated. "There was a long period bf poking around in the proverbial dark room looking for a black cat that may not be there." Sabin says of the time, using one of his favorite cxpressions. During that pcriod, the two Cncin> nati researchers did some work with Arid Hollin.hcad of George Wash- ington University, whose studies fo- cused on ways of identifying, isolating. and characterizing specific virus-in- duced tumor antigens. That marked tbe oegmrnng oi a ctose association be- tween Tarro and Hollinshead which has continued to this day. Their most recent joint effort invplved experiments iruca wiliNi ii•cy ucu:CS:;.:Gi: 2h1: herpesvirus nonvirion' antigens are as- sociated with lip and cervical carci- nomas, but not -with normal vaginal tissue or intestinal turtnors. They found evidence of the antigen in tumor tis- sues. as opposed to serum;, which,Tar- ro and Sabin used, And concluded in a rcpuu in ti.te i& February issue of Science, that, because the nonvition antigens are probably specific markers for the presence of virus within the tu"hW ; t16: fiud'is.g! c:.utd ssp- pon an etiological role of herpesvirus in selected 'human malignancies." Both Hollinshead and Tarro have said that Sabin urged Tarro M ask Science to delay publication of that paper. The authors believe that he did not want them in print before a paper of his own with Tarro woul,' 'appear in the Proc'tedrngs ol the watiortot nrcdrnty of Scdences. Sabin, on the other hand. says he had reservations about the soundness of the Hollinshead-Tarro •L.u.u~•. Tu::i. u.u:IV.A. W,.u u..:r .,,. best so far with t~espect to the connec- tiom between herpesviruses and lip and cervical tumon. But to go back to earlier work. by 1970 Sabin and Tarro had resolved- reportedly wi~th_ Hollinshead's help- some of the problems bf getting a handle on the antigens and pUblished a papsr in the Proceedfngs of 1Ge Aa. 6arnal Academy of Sciences (to which Sabin belongs) describing properties of •t•e non "Irir i anugAn, Af •he) herpe.- virtu type i. 7t'vcas about tsat time, too, that Sabin left Cincinnati to as- wme the presi.lency of the Wbizmann Instntue in )s:ael and Tarro went back ) Two ~'atentStudies Pending ~ f In her maiden speech as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Science and Technology, former-Boeing Company physicist Betsy Ancker-Rit,n- ' son announced that two programs to put the department's file of I1 million patents to work in aiding American technology are under r:~ay. with some preliminary results expected soon. -- -- Speaking to the Washington Chapter of the National Association of Science Writers, Ancker-Johnson said that the larger effort is to break out the data in the Patent Office•s mauivR files of 11 million patents (which already divides new inventions inta 85,000 subclasses), to iudi- cate where technology is advancing rapidly, where it is proceediog more slowly,• and who literally owns it, The premise, she said, is that "Chang- ing patterns of patent activity . . . can be an accurate Indication of technological activity throughout the world:" Patents granted in tunneling technology are one example. "U.S. inventors clearly dominate In the broad field of hydraulic and earth engincering, with 69 percent of the patents. However. In the tsubcategbry dealing with tunneling, the figures are quite different. The U.S. shatc is only 31 percent, while Germany, with 37 pereent, emerges as the nEost active country." ' In citing this sort of example. Ancker-)ohnson was reflecting a feeling shared by others in the Commerce Department and in Administration science circles that, Increasingly, American scientists and technologists should keep a weather eye on their foreign competi- tion. At present, she erplained. Commerce is preparing a prdimina,ry report which will suggest fcrmats and categories for breaking ouc this kind of patent information for use by busibess and government. A second, smaller effort she cited is a review of the :5,000 gosern- ,ment.owned patents to see which might be turned into profitable com- mercial ventures, or, in her words, into "acres of diamonds" for industry. The effort here, according to a department spokesman, is a result of the Ptssident's Technology Alessage of March 1973. If AnckeMohnson's speech, with its concluding pitch for women's rights, is an indieation, the long-silent science ofl'ice in the Cem,herce Department oouk6„bp n livening up.-D.S. IMZN 18738 $73 ,

.V , , to Italy. "carrying this work to Naples with me." In Naples. Tarro, who is described „ , , , -l at,;nri:,tn. At a eho retiring young investigator, .vorked under a grant from the cancer insti- tute which, Sabin says, he got because he /Sabin) would continue to be asso- ctated with the project. By the late fall of 1972, Tarro's work in Naples had progressed, so far that he was able to say that there was a clear relationship between harpesviruscs and several hu- man cancers. Says Tarro. "In Novem- ber, we got some very nice results. a:..^.1 t^ S2Mirv°-- ' he was the first person to be informed- he said they were 'too good to be true.' " In February, Sabin sent a joint Sabin-Tarro paper off to the Proceed- ings, where it was published in the Anriy issun,. S.thin viho was hv this time back in thc United States, also asked Tarro to come to this country for a stay in his laboratory at the Frederick center. Tarro arrived in Feb- ruary and will return to Italy soon. According to Tarro, the work he and Sabin did at Frederick was a "repe- tition" of the work he did in Naples, although it was done with more "so- phisticated" equipment and with dif- ferent controls. A travel order to Tatrro fr!+*s: Robert A., Mt'r!al:er Af the *?r_r partially supports Tarro's contention that the work he did in the last 3 months cssehtially duplicated previout work: "Dr. Tarrm will participate in a collaboration with inv`o3tigaRors at the 'Freder*ek Cancer Research Center to verify and extend observations made on human cervical carcinoma patients by techniques deinBloped,by Dr. Tarro in Naples." Once back, in Italy, Tarro hopes to continue his research'along the same lines he has been pursuing and to con• tinue his collaboration with scientists in this country, including Hollinshead, even though Sabin is reportedly less than pleased about that. 1Vhen asked. '!'arro ractfulty says he Ife.lieves his work with both itldividuals is equally important.-Battanau J. Cur-t•trora P1A,S and APS Meetings: Changes in Moods and,ifi Modes The JVAr%onaf AeadP:rry of Sritnees (NAS) and the Americun Physical Wociety (f1TS) both nra in Washin;ron in the week after Easier. Bej•ond the cs6ncidenee o/,7ime and place Ft is lair to say that the meetings shared a eommon mood. The truce in Vietnam is generally regarded at the I prinripal rsuse o! a mruing oJ the voiees, of prorest rhar has•e beP.t h.ard .rr so many saertrih4 eneetin,tns in rece~:t years P.rd, J'i~eafly had disturbed tife even tenor of the aca.demy's r~aJ•s. f articalarly at APS t1 ere seems to be new inirrest 0134 en• ergy directed to exploring xays to work witlrin, the s}Steni. National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences devoted its spring meeting this year mainly to commemorating the 500th anniversary of the birth of Copernicus and to discussing the scientific revolu- tion he did much to initiate. On more immediate problems facing science and society, the academy members also tended to take the long-range view. It would be unfair to suggest that the academy has relapsed into the com- placency of the past. A lot has hap- pened to the academy in recent years, and it is now in a period of consolidat- ing the changes that have been made• the members arc in no mind to sec any major rocking of the boat. Asked to characterize the atmosphere of this year's meeting, academy presi- dent Philip Handler replied, "Quiet •" Handler says hc feels that for several years the problems-tPat were on the minds of many membcrs had their origins in the Vietnarii war. "The matter of 'our relationship with the military- classified activitics-has been regu- larized. As far as I know this has satis- fled the concerned portion of the ment- bership." The issue of secrecy of the military work accepted by the academy was the $74 cause of sharpest dissent among acad- emy members in recent years. As a result of the criticism, the academy last year adopted new rules on classified work which essentially provide that members be Informed of the nature of classified work before the academy ac- cepts it and creates-machinery through which members can protest and have a particular contract rejected. The debate over classified work and the compromise reached led to the resignation of two members critical of the sittration. Richard Lowentin of the University of Chicago and Bruce Wallace of Cornell. Technicalities had left the resignations in limbo until this year's meeting, but the academy coun- cil this year clarified the situation by changing the bylaws to provide a di- rect means of resigning and also, so to speak, left a light in the window by adding that a resigned member may be reinstated after not less than 4 years by a two-fifths vote of the council. 11'hat seemed to concern members _most thts year, according to Handler, was thc-°funding of the_ scientific en- deavor." He said that "the most acute concern was expressed by biomedical researchers." He suggested that this J may be the case because "bthers felt the pressure earlier." On another internal matter that has troubled the academy for several years, the members received the formal word that the leadership of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) was recommending dissolution of its decade- fong partnership with NAS (Scfence, 13 April). NAS members received the news calmly and approved a discreetly worded resolution invidag NAE to co- operate with NAS in matters of "mu- tual and overlapping concern," and adding that if NAE decides to remain under tlx NAS chairter, "the iavitation . to do so remaias open" There was really not much else that NAS could do sinse NAE was sched- uled to mebt the following week, and the decision to stay or go rests with a vote of the NAE members. In the event that the-decjsion is-to-stay with NAS-considered against the odds- the two academies would reopen nego- tiations. Theae nagotiations seem to have stuck mainly on the issue of how the two academies koulr jointly operate the National Research Council (NRC), the framework otganiration for the voluntary committees which perform the academy's funetion of advising the government. - - - Reorganization and reform of NRC ! ~7N 18,739

~._ _. ... _ . , . ._ ? ! . . social, and strategic impacts. ACDA would have the key role of analyzing proposed projects from the standpoint of their impact on thc future of the arms racc. From the viewpoint of arma conttol people, such legislation would have the virtue of formalizing ACDA's advisory role. now possibly the only rol,: the agency is to be allowed to play. For Congress to go beyond this and de-- mand that ACDA be restored to a po- Cancer Virus» Link to Disease in Man Rep'orted Again Orte sure way for a scientist to tti$ke To begin with, Sabin seems to be news is to announce that he has dis- the only one who regards the cacperi- cove'red a human cancer virus.'In the mental evidence as conclusive proof last few years, more than half -a that herpesviaases play a role '-P caus• dozen investigators have enthusiastically ing tertain cancers. John B. Moaoney, claimed to have caught the elusive can- associate scientific director for jviral cer-causing virus, and, although some . oncqlogy at the National Cancer Iosti- of those claims were duly modified by tute 1NCI), which funded the sw:;res un- "mayb:'s," the ?mplicatio .'always w.as der .he Specia.3 Virus Cancer Program, I'that ~ith just a bit rrlore work,- the accolmpanieu Sabin to the academ), data lvould belconclusi:te and theicau- p~ess eonference, at which 'he tonei# tion,ary note,could be discarded.. As it down som: of Sabia s~more definiti+:e ~ tunied out, It was the~'claims ttlat had 1remarks. sfoloney said'the Sabin;Ta#o tt• be discl*ded. ~ ~findings `'provide additional evidence But past failures :,re no dctcaietst, and ~ sugg¢stipg that her~esviruses may be the search for a human eanccr tirus ' causal/y implicated" in some cancers. goes on. One of the first persons to However, he added that, before one proclaim success was Albert Sabin, could say the etiological role of the who said he had found the virus shortly viruses was proved, there must be fur- after he switched to cancer research ther studies involving larger numbers of in 1962. But what he found was not a patients to determine the statistical sig- virus after all, and talk about an encit- nificance of the relation between the ing lead was quietly dropped. viruses and tumors. In addition, the The latest person to proclaim suc- sensitivity of the test for picking up cess is also Albert Sabin. At the annual evidence of the. viruses must be in- meeting of the National Academy of crea3ed, and the nature of the protein Sciences, he reported that he has nmiled (called a nonvirion antigen) that is used down, once and for all, the long- , to indicate the presence of the virus suspected link between herpesvirpnes must be defined. 'farro agrees that it is and cancer. Sabin, who is something too soon to aay that a cause and effect of a showman, summarized his fied- ings at a press conference and later spelled out his evidence in a contn'b- uted paper that he coauthored with Giulio Tarro of the University of Naples in Italy. Tatro, feeling slighted, has said that he was not invited to participate in the meeting with the press. However, he did show up at the press confcrence uftci ihinFs were an- der way. He is miffed by a news ac- count that he feels failed to give him _ due credit. Sabin 's clatm-anu tne circumstances surrounding the rescarc - have become matter.~ of some contention among per- sons close to the situation. relationship has been proved beyond Aoubt and is,satisfied with sayin$ that the evidence looks very, very good. In experiments that were completed only 3 days before the presentation at the hcademy, Sabin and Tatro showed that ordinary herpes simplex and herpes genitalis vitvses ate specifically as-, sociated with nine typet of human can- cers. Herpesviruses are extremely, com- mon in nature, and most people harbor them. They are known to tause fever blistcrs, or cold sores, and genital sores. Krnv; -Snbin-and- T arro are saying that these same viruses, which are trans• mitted from person to person. "twtay in rertaht htdividunLs under srircial tondi• sition of leadership in arms control negotiations would no doubt be fu- tile. If the President is determined to remove ACDA from such a role, there probably is nothing Congress can do about it.-LtJTHF.R J. CARTER 119113 play a 1uic us anuuuiug auu,u human cancers in a manner comparable to that obtaining for the cancers experi- tnenralfy,[in animals] produced by other DNA viruses." In a telephone. interview, Sabin sarssed the fact that there must be co- factors of some as yet unidentified nature involved kt pr,.,."ng maGg- nancy-that the virus does not act alone. But, he added, this is the "first demonstration that adordinary vfrus is -+sw.la+.ed ^biy WN: 'rincer wid : uc , wieh infectioa." Sabin and Tarro have not actually found the herpes simplex and genitalis viasaes (also known at herpes type I eod type & resper.:ively) in the serarus of career patiqltts. Instead, th:•y •found evidetIce that the viruses had tjeen there b} t~,entifying antibodies to nonvirion + antigens specific to those I~iaruses. A nonvirion antigen Is simpl}j a protein which is produced by a, cell that has been infected by the virus "and that uses a piece of DNA from the virus in the production ptocess. Thus, it is the viral information that codes for production of the antigen which, while specific to that virus, is not a ittuctural part of the virus itself. These nonvirion attd- gens, like 'any other antigens, stimulate antibody production. ~ In experiments conducted during February, March, and April at the NCI's Frederick Cancer Research Cen- ter in converted Fort Detrick, Sabin . and Tarro screened a variety of human serums for antibody to the tsonvirlon antigen. They found it in serums from patients with advanced cancers of the following nine typesr Gp, mouth, oro- pharynx, nasopharynx, kidney, bladder, prrstate, cervix, and vulva. There was no antibody in serums from patients with 20 other types of cancer, including cancer of the lung,-s-tomach, colon, and breeast, as well as a couple of~types of leukemia. Nor was it present in fetal tissue, thereby discounting the poui- } bitity that the antigen in question is really an embryonic one that is fre- quently assoceated with various cancers. Studies of persons with active herpes infactiats--but no malinnp"Pt-'~-re, atso negatt~, .1 ~ 1873'7, • ._-e- -WH.. n+,