Harvey Itano

Harvey Akio Itano (born November 3, 1920) is an American biochemist best known for his work on the molecular basis of sickle cell anemia and other diseases. In collaboration with Linus Pauling, Itano used electrophoresis to demonstrate the difference between normal hemoglobin and sickle cell hemoglobin; their 1949 paper "Sickle Cell Anemia, a Molecular Disease" (coauthored also with S. J. Singer and Ibert C. Wells) [Cite journal| volume = 110| issue = 2865| pages = 543–548| last = Pauling| first = Linus | coauthors = Harvey A. Itano, S. J. Singer, Ibert C. Wells| title = Sickle Cell Anemia, a Molecular Disease| journal = Science| accessdate = 2008-08-25| date = 1949-11-01| url = http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1949Sci...110..543P| doi = 10.1126/science.110.2865.543| pmid = 15395398] was a landmark in both molecular medicine and protein electrophoresis.

In 1979, Itano became the first Japanese American admitted to the United States National Academy of Sciences (in the Genetics section). Itano is currently an emeritus professor of pathology at the University of California, San Diego.K. W. Lee. "Remarkable Parents Who Raised Remarkable Family." "Sacramento Union", June 25, 1979. [http://www.itano.net/history/nichibei.htm Reprint from the "Nichi Bei Times"] accessed August 25, 2008.]

Youth and education

Born in Sacramento, Harvey was the first of four children of Japanese immigrant Masao Itano, who had moved to California from rural Japan at age 17. Like his father, Harvey earned an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley (in chemistry). In 1942, upon graduating college, he and his family were detained at the Tule Lake War Relocation Center, followed by internment camps in Arkansas and Colorado.

Research

Itano entered the Washington University in St. Louis medical school, earning his M.D. in 1945. From there, he went to Caltech for Ph.D. work. He joined the lab of Linus Pauling and began working on sickle cell anemia, a genetic disease that Pauling was interested in. Pauling was convinced that sickle cell disease was caused by defective hemoglobin, and set Itano to find out what made sickle cell hemoglobin chemically different.Ted Goertzel and Ben Goertzel. "Linus Pauling: A Life in Science and Politics". New York:BasicBooks, 1995. p. 90] After failing with a number of other techniques, Itano succeeded in differentiating normal and sickle cell hemoglobins using moving boundary electrophoresis." [http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/testing/html/mss0226a.html The Register of Harvey Itano Papers 1946 - 2000] ", MSS 0226, Mandeville Special Collections Library, Geisel Library, University of California, San Diego. Accessed August 25, 2008.] He used an apparatus designed by Stanley M. Swingle, a variation on the original apparatus of electrophoresis pioneer Arne Tiselius. [Cite journal| volume = 18| issue = 2| pages = 128–132| last = Swingle| first = Stanley M.| title = An Electrophoresis Apparatus Using Parabolic Mirrors| journal = Review of Scientific Instruments| accessdate = 2008-08-25| date = 1947-02| url = http://link.aip.org/link/?RSI/18/128/1| doi = 10.1063/1.1740898] He found that, under certain conditions, sickle cell hemoglobin is positively charged while normal hemoglobin is not, creating a difference in electrophoretic mobility. By 1956, Vernon Ingram had determined that this was caused by a single difference in peptide sequence [Cite journal| doi = 10.1038/178792a0| volume = 178| issue = 4537| pages = 792–794| last = Ingram| first = V. M.| title = A Specific Chemical Difference Between the Globins of Normal Human and Sickle-Cell Anaemia Haemoglobin| journal = Nature| accessdate = 2008-08-25| date = 1956-10-13] , which by 1958 he determined to be a glutamic acid in place of a valine. [Cite journal| doi = 13560404| issn = 0006-3002| volume = 28| issue = 3| pages = 539–45| last = Ingram| first = V M| title = Abnormal human haemoglobins. I. The comparison of normal human and sickle-cell haemoglobins by fingerprinting| journal = Biochimica Et Biophysica Acta| accessdate = 2008-08-25| date = 1958-06| url = http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/13560404| doi_brokendate = 2008-09-01]

Itano's subsequent work brought the new field of "molecular medicine" to other genetic and blood diseases. In 1954, he won the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry, and in 1972 he won the Martin Luther King Jr. Medical Achievement Award, recognizing his sickle cell work.

Notes and references

External links

* [http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/testing/html/mss0226a.html The Register of Harvey Itano Papers 1946 - 2000] - UC San Diego
* [http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/specialcollections/coll/pauling/blood/people/itano.html Key Participants: Harvey Itano] - "It's in the Blood! A Documentary History of Linus Pauling, Hemoglobin, and Sickle Cell Anemia"