STOCKHOLM – The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded on Monday to Americans Victor Ambrose and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNAs, tiny pieces of genetic material that alter the way genes work at the cellular level and could lead to cancer treatment. Can give rise to new methods.
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institutet, which awarded the prize, said the duo’s discovery was “proving to be fundamentally important” in understanding how organisms evolve and function.
According to Dr. Claire Fletcher, lecturer in molecular oncology at Imperial College London, microRNAs have opened up scientists’ perspectives on treating diseases such as cancer by helping to regulate how genes work at the cellular level.
Fletcher said microRNAs provide genetic instructions to tell cells to make new proteins and there are two main areas where microRNAs could be helpful: in developing drugs to treat diseases and in acting as biomarkers.
“MicroRNAs change the way genes work in the cell,” said Fletcher, an outside expert not associated with the Nobel Prize.
“If we take the example of cancer, we will have a particular gene working overtime, it may mutate and work in overdrive,” she said. “We can take a microRNA that we know alters the activity of that gene and we can deliver that particular microRNA to cancer cells to prevent that mutated gene from having its effect.”
Ambrose conducted research that won him a prize at Harvard University. He is currently Professor of Natural Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Thomas Perlman, secretary general of the Nobel Committee, said Ruvkun’s research was conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he is a professor of genetics.
Pearlman said he spoke to Ruvkun by phone shortly before the announcement.
“It took him a long time to get on the phone and he looked very tired, but when he understood what it was all about, he was very excited and happy,” Pearlman said.
Last year, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Hungarian-American Catalin Karikó and American Drew Weissman for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 that could slow the pandemic. were important.
The prize carries a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million) from a bequest left by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.
This announcement marked the beginning of this year’s Nobel Prize award season.
The Nobel announcement continues with Physics awards on Tuesday, Chemistry awards on Wednesday and Literature awards on Thursday. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday and the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on October 14.
Laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on 10 December, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
Fletcher said clinical trials are underway to see how microRNA approaches could help treat skin cancer, but there are no drug treatments approved by drug regulators yet. He hoped this could happen in the next five to 10 years.
He said microRNAs represent another way of being able to control the behavior of genes to treat and track various diseases.
“Most of the treatments we have at the moment are targeting proteins in cells,” he said. “If we can intervene at the microRNA level, it opens up a new way for us to develop drugs and control the activity of genes whose levels can be altered in diseases.”
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Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands, Cheng reported from London.
