Deciphering RU-486 Essays -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Deciphering RU-486 When told there is a drug available that may prove useful in the treatment of everything from cancer to HIV to Alzheimer ¹s Disease (1), the tendency would be to ask why its use isn ¹t more pervasive. Conversely, when told there is a drug that functions to terminate unwanted pregnancies as well as preventing them from occurring at all (1), it would be more likely to call into question the ethics of such a design. However, when considering a drug that does all these things, the need to see everything as black and white suddenly becomes less easily met. The drug RU-486, simultaneously vilified by anti-abortion advocates and praised by many research scientists, is just such a drug, and it presents a decidedly modern moral dilemma. Its inhibitory effects on the hormone progesterone are fairly effective in ending a pregnancy in its early stages (1), with this aspect of the drug being successfully marketed in Europe (6) prior to its more recent entrance into this country (13). Its othe r uses have been less widely publicized, largely because to an extent they are just being developed. RU-486 appears to also have an inhibitory effect on the class of stress hormones known as glucocorticoids, which have been recognized as being extremely harmful to the body in a whole host of ways given a high enough concentration. With the high-stress lifestyles we lead today and little evolutionary back-up to deal with that, it is imperative that we come up with a method of treating stress-related illness. It is worth considering at what point the more controversial use of RU-486 should be put aside to allow its beneficial features to achieve their fullest potential. The clinical efficacy of RU-486 comes in its ability to bind to... ... 6) Feminist Majority Foundation Reports on Mifepristone http://www.feminist.org/gateway/ru486one.html 7) Unleashing the Killer Pill: RU-486 Dangers, Lies, and Nazi/Communist Roots Exposed http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3a21faea3ba6.htm 8) The RU-486 Files http://www.ru486.org/ 9) Penn Scientists Identify New Pathway in HIV Cycle http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/features/1995/042595/Vpr.html 10) AIDS-related Kaposi ¹s Sarcoma: evidence for direct stimulatory effect of glucocorticoid on cell proliferation http://cancer.med.upenn.edu/cancernet/95/may/705001.html#6 11) Cushing ¹s Syndrome http://medhlp.netusa.net/lib/cushings.htm 12) Treatment of Cushing ¹s Syndrome http://www.uptodate.com/patient_info/topicpages/text/10348A3.asp#19 13) Time Magazine: The Pill Arrives http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,56387,00.html