|
Plants could yield anti-AIDS, cancer medicine
Botanical garden plays key role in medicinal development
An expanded Web version of segments seen on CNN
June 26, 1997
Web posted at: 5:15 p.m. EDT (2115 GMT)ST. LOUIS, Missouri (CNN) -- A botanical garden in urban St. Louis provides more than an aesthetic environment for plant life. It's also fertile ground for breakthrough research that could yield anti-cancer and anti-AIDS medicines.
For more than 10 years, botanists at Missouri Botanical Garden have worked with pharmaceutical researchers in the fight against human disease, collecting more than 25,000 plant samples for screening.
CNN's Dick Wilson reports from ST LOUIS, MISSOURI:
The garden's mission, according to its Web site, is "to discover and share knowledge about plants and their environment, in order to preserve and enrich life."
Many of the 56 botanists on staff have traveled to tropical Africa and Madagascar in search of exotic plant life that could be used for medicinal purposes. Samples of the tropical plants are brought back to the garden in Missouri, where researchers catalog the plants and identify which ones are unfamiliar.
Dr. James Miller from the Missouri Botanical Garden:
484K/12 sec. QuickTime movie
The promising plant samples are then shipped to medical experts at the National Cancer Institute, who begin searching for active pharmacological agents that might lead to a cancer or AIDS treatments.
About one quarter of all prescription pharmaceuticals contain at least one plant-derived ingredient.
Spurring medical advances
The botanical garden's work is part of a program called Natural Products Research. Dr. James Miller of the Missouri Botanical Garden says the research has helped uncover new information about various plants and spurred medical advances.
For example, Miller said, two of the most powerful anti-cancer drugs come from a type of periwinkle. He also said a different plant being researched has yielded an anti-HIV and an anti-AIDS compound.
Dr. James Miller... on drugs from periwinke: 
224K/16 sec. AIFF or WAV sound on anti-AIDS medicine: 256K/18 sec. AIFF or WAV sound "At the moment, it looks unlikely that this is going to directly develop into an anti-AIDS medicine," he said. "However, the possibility still exists today that we can tinker with the chemical structure and that this will be a lead molecule."
The Missouri Botanical Garden, founded in the early 19th century and one of the nation's oldest botanical gardens, covers 79 acres in a residential area of St. Louis. The garden displays the tropical plants as part of its permanent collection, where nearly 5 million plant species have been catalogued and preserved.
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- Missouri Botanical Garden - View detailed information about the garden, ranging from virtual tours of plants in bloom to research information.
- Missouri Botanical Garden's Mission - The garden seeks to "preserve and enrich life" with its findings. Get a first-hand look at the garden's mission statement.
- Bioprospecting for new pharmaceuticals - Botanists are working to find herbs that could be used in new anti-cancer and anti-AIDS medicines. Check out the garden's research information.
- National Cancer Institute - The National Cancer Institute coordinates the National Cancer Program, which conducts and supports research, training, health information dissemination, and other programs with respect to the cause, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of cancer, rehabilitation from cancer, and the continuing care of cancer patients and the families of cancer patients.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
Sound off on our message boards
Tell us what you think!
You said it...
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.