Cortisone 1948 – A Miracle Against Inflammation

In 1948, the American physician Philip Hench and his colleagues injected a steroid hormone called cortisone into Mrs. Gardner, a 29-year-old woman who was wheelchair-bound because of rheumatoid arthritis and looked twice her age. 

This type of arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by pain, swelling and joint damage. 

For five years, Gardner had been unable to get out of bed without assistance. Yet after just three days of injections, she improved and began walking with only a slight limp. A day later, she went on a three-hour shopping trip in downtown Rochester, New York. It was as though a medical miracle had occurred!

Cortisone performs its “miracles” by suppressing the immune system and reducing inflammation. The adrenal glands, located above the kidneys, use cholesterol to produce cortisone and cortisol (also known as hydrocortisone). Enzymes in the body can convert hydrocortisone into cortisone and vice versa. Hydrocortisone is the more active of the two substances, with a greater effect on cells and tissues.

Cortisone treatments have many applications, including reducing inflammation, preventing rejection in organ transplants and treating asthma. 

During the 1960 presidential campaign, President John F. Kennedy took large doses of hydrocortisone to treat Addison's disease, in which the adrenal glands fail to produce cortisone. Various symptoms of immune disorders in which the body attacks its own cells and tissues can be reduced using cortisone-like drugs. Unfortunately, prolonged use of cortisone or hydrocortisone can cause significant side effects, including high blood pressure.

Other important researchers involved in the discovery, isolation, testing or chemical synthesis of cortisone include the Polish-born Swiss chemist Tadeusz Reichstein and the American chemists Lewis Sarett and Edward Kendall. In 1950, a ton of cattle adrenal glands could yield only 25 grams (0.06 pounds) of pure cortisone. Prednisone, which has a structure very similar to the natural cortisone molecule, is used to treat inflammatory diseases.

About the Article Image: The cortisone molecule.

Historical Figures Mentioned in the Article: Edward Calvin Kendall (1886–1972), Philip Showalter Hench (1896–1965), Tadeusz Reichstein (1897–1996), Lewis Hastings Sarett (1917–1999)

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