Nobel Prize – for HIV and the papilloma virus

Peter Petrov, "Elements"Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine – 2008

The 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will be shared by Harald zur Hausen ("for the discovery of human papillomavirus causing cervical cancer") and Francoise Barre-Sinussi and Luc Montagnier ("for the discovery of human immunodeficiency virus").

The significance of these discoveries for the fight against cancer and AIDS is enormous. The salvation of millions of human lives depends on them.

The Nobel Committee awarded this year's prize in physiology and medicine to three scientists whose discoveries have played a huge role in the fight against human viruses, which annually take hundreds of thousands and millions of lives. Half of the prize, "for the discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer" ("for his discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer"), will be awarded to Harald zur Hausen from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum) in Heidelberg. The other half of the prize, awarded "for the discovery of human immunodeficiency virus" ("for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus"), will be shared by Françoise Barré-Sinoussi from the Institut Pasteur in Paris and Luc Montagnier, who previously also worked at the Pasteur Institute, and currently heads the World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention (Fondation mondiale recherche et prévention sida) at UNESCO, founded with his participation.

Harald zur Hausen was born in 1936 in Gelsenkirchen (Germany). He studied at the Universities of Bonn, Hamburg and Dusseldorf. At the University of Dusseldorf, he received a Doctor of medicine degree and worked for several years at the university's subordinate Institute of Medical Microbiology. In the mid-sixties, zur Hauser moved to Philadelphia (USA), where he initially worked in the Virology Laboratory of the famous Children's Hospital, and later taught at University of Pennsylvania. In 1969, he returned to Germany and became a professor at the University of Würzburg, then worked at universities in Erlangen and Nuremberg and in Freiburg in Breisgau, and from 1983 — at the German Cancer Research Center, which he headed for 20 years (1983-2003).

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is transmitted from person to person. Some types of HPV are harmless, some cause the formation of warts on the skin, some affect the genitals (sexually transmitted). In the mid-seventies, Harald zur Hausen discovered that women suffering from cervical cancer are invariably infected with HPV. At that time, many experts believed that cervical cancer was caused by the Herpes simplex virus, but zur Hausen found papilloma viruses in cancer cells, not herpes viruses, and suggested that the development of cancer occurs as a result of infection with the papilloma virus. Subsequently, he and his colleagues were able to confirm this hypothesis and establish that most cases of cervical cancer are caused by one of two types of these viruses: HPV-16 and HPV-18. Cells infected with such viruses are quite likely to become cancerous sooner or later, and a malignant tumor develops from them.

In the mid-eighties, studies were initiated, thanks to which several vaccines have already been obtained and put into production, the injection of which allows, at least for several years, to reduce the risk of infection with certain types of HPV (including 16 and 18) to zero. Thus, thanks to the discovery of zur Hausen, highly effective means for preventing cervical cancer have been developed.

Now the first priority is the introduction of these tools. About 5% of all cancer cases in the world are due to cervical cancer, and more than two hundred thousand women die every year from this disease. Widespread HPV vaccination will save hundreds of thousands of women. The decision of the Nobel Committee will certainly benefit the cause: the prize awarded to Zur Hausen will probably help draw the attention of people around the world to the problem of preventing cervical cancer and will contribute to the spread of life-saving vaccination.

Francoise Barre-Sinoussi was born in 1947 in Paris, studied there and received her doctorate in 1974. The object of her research was retroviruses (which include HIV). She studied this group of viruses at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm, Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale) and at the Pasteur Institute, where she continues to work today. In 1983, Francoise Barre-Sinussi worked under the guidance of Luc Montagnier and together with him took part in a study that allowed for the first time to isolate and describe the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS.

Luc Montagnier was born in 1932 in the commune of Chabry in the department of Endre (France). He studied at Poitiers and Paris, worked for a while in Paris, and then interned at leading virological laboratories in the UK, where he studied, in particular, the mechanism of replication of RNA-containing viruses. Returning to Paris, he first studied retroviruses at the Curie Institute, and in 1972 was invited by Jacques Monod, an outstanding researcher of the mechanisms of gene regulation, to the newly formed department of virology at the Pasteur Institute, where Montagnier organized and headed a group of viral oncology, which conducted research on the mechanisms of the occurrence of malignant tumors as a result of viral infections. The staff of this group was the first to isolate the causative agent of AIDS. In 1993, Luc Montagnier and UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor established the World AIDS Research and Prevention Foundation. Montagnier headed this foundation and still manages it.

In 1982, Luc Montagnier's group began research in order to identify a possible causative agent of the recently described unusual disease — acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, characterized by progressive weakening of the vital immune system. In 1983, the virus was isolated (at first it received a different name, but today it is known as HIV — human immunodeficiency virus). Shortly after the discovery of HIV in At the Pasteur Institute, it was also isolated in the USA, in the Robert Gallo group, which collaborated with the Montagnier group, from samples obtained from the French group. Robert Gallo's claim to primacy in the discovery and the patent he received for a blood test technique for HIV caused many years of controversy between the American and French sides. These disputes were eventually resolved by the recognition of the priority of the Montagnier group. Unfortunately, disputes about priority have taken a lot of time from researchers and have hindered a lot of work in the field of HIV research and the search and implementation of tools to detect, prevent and treat HIV infection.

Electronic micrography of human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV). The discovery of these viruses that cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) made it possible to develop measures to prevent and treat this disease. Although a vaccine against HIV has not yet been developed, modern methods, while quite expensive, make it possible to combat the symptoms of HIV infection and prolong the life of patients for many decades. (Unfortunately, it was not possible to develop methods that would completely cleanse the infected body of HIV.) Image obtained by Martin Hartmann (Dr. Martin Hartmann) from the University of Heidelberg, from the website www.tolzin.de

Since 1981, when AIDS was first described, more than 25 million people have died from this disease. More than 33 million people living today are infected with HIV, and every year the disease claims millions more lives. AIDS was called the plague of the XX century. The XXI century has come a long time ago, and the number of people infected with HIV continues to grow, and about two million infected people, a significant proportion of whom are children, die from AIDS every year. Fortunately, treatment methods have already been developed that make it possible to postpone the death of a person infected with AIDS for decades. But unfortunately, this treatment is expensive, and only fairly wealthy people can afford it. At the same time, AIDS is most common just on the poorest continent — in Africa. In addition, it has not yet been possible to develop, and it is unknown whether it will be possible, either ways to completely eliminate HIV from an infected organism, or a vaccine whose vaccination would reduce to zero (or at least significantly reduce) the risk of contracting AIDS. But intensive research continues, and in the future, measures to combat AIDS will certainly become more accessible and more effective.

The discovery by Luc Montagnier's group of the virus that causes AIDS was made shortly after the discovery of the disease itself. The rapid identification of the causative agent of AIDS greatly helped the subsequent development of ways to combat this disease.

According to tradition, the prize will be awarded to the laureates on December 10, the day of Alfred Nobel's death, in his hometown — Stockholm. Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine was awarded to Mario R. Capecchi from the University of Utah (USA), Oliver Smithies from the University of North Carolina (USA) and Martin Evans (Sir Martin J. Evans) from Cardiff University (UK) for the invention of the gene knockout method).

Sources:1) Nobel prize for viral discoveries // BBC News.
6 October 2008.
2) Alison Abbott. Virus discoveries secure Nobel prize in medicine // Nature News.Published online 6 October 2008.

Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru10.10.2008