- Design and synthesis of specific antiviral and
anti-cancer drugs - Synthesis of advanced and electroactive materials
- B. Sc. National Southwest Associated University (1945)
- Ph.D. Washington University (1949)
- Postdoctoral Fellow, Washington University (1949-51)
- Research Fellow, Yale University (1951-53)
- Guggenheim Fellow, 1960, 1972
Design and Synthesis of Specific Antiviral and Anti-cancer Agents; Synthesis of Advanced and Electroactive Materials.
One of the major goals of human endeavor is to conquer disease. Toward that aim, the research group of Jui H. Wang has designed, synthesized and studies various polydinitrophenyloligoribo-nucleotides (poly-DNP-RNAs) as structure-based inhibitors of viruses and malignant cells. These inhibitors are all biomembrane-permeable and ribonuclease- resistant. One of them is a trifunctional mutation-insensitive retrovirus inhibitor which is effective (ED50 = 0.1 mg/kg) for treating leukemia in mice as an animal model for AIDS. A second group of poly-DNP-RNAs have been designed and synthesized as antisense inhibitors of duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV). They have been shown to be effective for eliminating DHBV in ducks, with no viral reemergence even ten months after termination of the treatment.
A third type of antisense poly-DNP-RNAs have been designed, synthesized and tested successfully as anti-cancer agents. For example, one of them stops the growth and induces apoptosis of human breast cancer cells in culture but has no effect on the growth of normal breast cells under similar conditions. The control poly-DNP-RNAs with random or sense sequence are completely inactive. Intraperitoneal administration of this antisense poly-DNP-RNA to SCID mice with transplanted human breast cancer cells inhibits the growth of xenografts in a concentration-dependent way, prevents metastasis and drastically reduced mortality. Further structural modification of these poly-DNP-RNAs are being investigated for improved efficacy.
We also discovered that the efficacy of short interfering RNA (siRNA) can be greatly enhanced by DNP-derivatization. The chemically modified oligoribonucleotides (DNP-siRNA) can be used as a powerful and specific gene silencer as well as a potential anti-cancer agent.
Selected Recent Publications