Paul Ehrlich
1854-1915
German Bacteriologist
Paul Ehrlich is recognized as the founder of hematology (the study of the blood) and chemotherapy (the treatment of disease with chemicals.) His many accomplishments include the development of the side-chain theory of immunity, the use of dyes to treat tropical diseases, and the discovery of a treatment for the dreaded disease syphilis. Ehrlich was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in medicine for advancing the field of immunology and contributing to the production of a serum for diphtheria.
Paul Ehrlich. (The Library of Congress. Reproduced by permission.)Ehrlich was born on March 14, 1854, into a respected middle-class Jewish family in Strehlen, Silesia, Germany (now part of Poland.) Although he was an excellent pupil, Ehrlich found school a dutiful bore until his cousin, a bacteriologist, introduced him to dyes and the world of the microscope. He developed such an all-consuming interest in staining that fellow students teased him about it. He continued his dye investigations through his university work at Breslau, Straubourg, and Freiberg. When he graduated with a degree in medicine from Leipzig in 1878, he was already a respected authority on dyes and received an appointment to the prestigious Berlin Charite' Hospital.
At Charite' he became so deeply engrossed with the investigation of blood through the medium of staining that he seldom ventured out of the hospital. He developed dyes like methylene blue to stain bacteria and used aniline dyes to stain blood cells. His staining techniques advanced the diagnosis of the tuberculosis bacillus discovered by Robert Koch. By 1883 Ehrlich had published 37 scientific studies.
In 1884, at 30 years of age, he became a professor at Berlin University where he joined a group of distinguished scientists who were making Berlin the world center of research in bacteriology. In 1897 Ehrlich was appointed to a separate institute for serum research, which hedescribed as "small but my own." Here, he perfected the famous side-chain theory of immunity, which states that each cell has a series of side chains or receptors which not only absorb nutrients but react to toxins. During exposure to the toxin, the cell is "trained" to produce excess side chains that are released into the bloodstream as antibodies. If the cell survives, at the next exposure, antibodies link up with the toxin very much like a lock and key fit together.
Ehrlich was barely settled into his small institute when he was invited to join Frankfurt's Royal Institute for Experimental Therapy in 1899. He initiated a study of cancer, or malignant tumors, and the possible use of chemicals to treat cancer and pathogenic organisms. He tested hundreds of chemicals looking for the "magic bullet" that would target a specific organism.
When he became interested in one-celled parasites, such as the cause of African sleeping sickness, he returned to his old love—dyes. While testing mice infected with the tropical disease he found that cured mice responded to compounds containing nitrogen and the element arsenic.
The spirochete Treponema pallidum had just been identified as the cause of the sexually transmitted disease syphilis. For three years he synthesized compounds. After 605 failed attempts, Preparation 606—later called Salvarsan—proved to be the "magic bullet" for syphilis. Following extensive experiments with mice and rats, he cautiously began testing human subjects. Salvarsan was finally released for use in 1910. Because the compound contained arsenic, questions about side effects emerged, and Ehrlich was attacked—even accused of fraud. However, Salvarsan was finally accepted in 1914 as a great medical breakthrough.
The strain took its toll on Ehrlich, and he suffered a series of strokes. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Frankfurt on August 23, 1915. Ehrlich was known for his remarkable energy, his work ethic, as well as his kindness and modesty. His wife, Helwig, whom he married at age 28, was concerned about his health habits of eating little and smoking twenty-five strong cigars a day. The Frankfurt street on which the institute was located was renamed Paul Ehrlich Strasse for the famous scientist. When the National Socialists (Nazis) came to power in 1938, they changed the name to eliminate anything Jewish. However, after World War II, Poland renamed Strehlen, his hometown, to Ehrlichstadt in honor of its famous son.
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