John R. Vane, 77; Aspirin Research Earned Nobel
Associated Press
Wednesday, November 24, 2004; Page B07
John R. Vane, 77, who shared the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1982 for his
part in discovering how aspirin works, died Nov. 19 in Farnborough, England,
of complications from fractures suffered this year.
Dr. Vane showed that aspirin inhibits the production of prostaglandins,
ubiquitous hormonelike substances that are involved in such body mechanisms
as fever and inducing labor.
Aspirin does this by blocking an enzyme known as prostaglandin synthetase
or cyclooxygenase. The body needs the enzyme to make precursors for most of
the half-dozen known prostaglandins and a few other key substances.
The prostaglandins that are blocked include those that make it easier for
nerve cells to pass pain signals from one to another, those that raise fever
and those that promote the swelling of inflamed tissue.
Dr. Vane discovered a prostaglandin called prostacyclin that relaxes
blood vessels. The discovery led to new treatments for heart and vessel
disease, including ACE inhibitors, which are widely used to treat high blood
pressure, heart failure and other vascular diseases.
He shared the 1982 Nobel Prize with Swedish researchers Sune K.
Bergstroem and Bengt I. Samuelsson.
Dr. Vane founded the William Harvey Research Institute, specializing in
cardiovascular and inflammation research, in 1986, serving first as
chairman, then as director general. In 1996, the institute became part of
the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, affiliated with Queen
Mary University of the University of London.
Dr. Vane was a fellow of the Royal Society, Britain's preeminent academic
society, and was knighted in 1984.
Survivors include his wife, Elizabeth Daphne Page Vane, and two
daughters.
