2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: New Weapons Against Parasitic Diseases and Malaria
6 Outubro 2015
The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists for their work in the treatment of parasitic diseases. William C. Campbell and Satoshi Ōmura developed avermectin, an antiparasitic drug whose derivatives are widely used to treat various endemic diseases caused by nematode worms, which cause significant morbidity in poor and developing countries. Youyou Tu was recognized for the development of artemisinin, a drug that revolutionized malaria treatment.
Satoshi Ōmura, a Japanese microbiologist at Kitasato University, developed innovative techniques to isolate thousands of species and strains of Streptomyces bacteria from soil. The most promising strains were used by William C. Campbell, an Irish biologist who completed his education and works in the USA at Drew University, Madison. Campbell, a parasitology specialist, isolated a compound with excellent activity against various parasites: avermectin. Its best-known derivative, ivermectin, is now widely used to treat a large number of parasitic diseases, including some previously untreatable ones. The discovery by these two scientists led to a new class of antiparasitic drugs.
In the 1960s, due to the emergence of drug-resistant Plasmodium strains, malaria treatment became difficult. Youyou Tu turned to traditional Chinese medicines, seeking to isolate active substances. She succeeded in isolating artemisinin from the extract of the plant Artemisia annua, a compound with potent effects against Plasmodium resistant to other drugs. For her discovery, which led to a new class of antimalarial drugs, she was awarded the Nobel Prize.
Figure 1: Tu Youyou (right) and her professor Lou Zhicen (left) in 1951. Anonymous photographer (In 1951, China had no copyright laws. The photo has been in the public domain for over 50 years.) (WenxueCity), via Wikimedia Commons.
Relevant publications:
- Burg et al., Avermectins, New Family of Potent Anthelmintic Agents: Producing Organism and Fermentation. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (1979) 15:361-367.
- Egerton et al., Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (1979) 15:372-378.
- Tu et al., [Studies on the constituents of Artemisia annua L. (author’s transl)]. Yao Xue Xue Bao (1981) 16, 366-370 (Chinese)
- The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine - Press Release