Medicine Prize
TWO scientists were awarded the Nobel Medicine Prize this week for a discovery 23 years ago in Australia.
Australian Peter Doherty (55) and Swiss Rolf Zinkernagel (52) received the award for joint work at the John Curtin School of Medical Research in Canberra, between 1973 and 1975. The pair discovered how the immune system recognises and can then kill virus- infected cells, unlocking the mystery of how a vaccine needs to be composed.
The discovery gives hope for treatment of such diseases as cancer, diabetes and Aids.
“It’s a fantastic feeling … I’m still in a state of shock. It is a tremendous recognition,” Doherty said this week. Doherty is now chairman of the Department of Immunology at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, and adjunct professor at the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee.
Zinkernagel, a graduate student at the time of the find, was delighted by the award but said it was only the first step.
“We know so little still that there is enough work to keep me busy for the coming years and decades,” said Zinkernagel, who is head of Zurich University’s experimental immunology institute.
Sten Grillner, chairman of the Nobel Medicine Committee, said Zinkernagel and Doherty’s discovery was ground-breaking: “Over time it has become more and more apparent how important this discovery was, and continuation of this work has had a major impact on the whole field.
“Already it has led to successful vaccines for animals, and if one has such a vaccine for animals, it must not be long before you can do the same with humans.”
Grillner said the find contributed to efforts to strengthen the immune response against invading micro-organisms and certain forms of cancer.
It also helped work that aims to lessen the effects of auto-immune reactions in inflammatory diseases like multiple sclerosis, diabetes and rheumatic conditions.
“But essentially I cannot see why it could not also be important for Aids,” Grillner said.
Doherty said the discovery brought about a new way of understanding how viruses should be controlled and how to make vaccines.
“It was a major discovery,” he said. “It triggered a new direction in research. It targeted a whole new way of looking at the problem and this was not understood immediately.”
The medicine award is one of six Nobel prizes awarded each year since 1901.