Yahoo – AFP, Pia Ohlin, October 3, 2016
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| Yoshinori Ohsumi speaks during a press conference in Tokyo, on October 3, 2016 (AFP Photo/Toru Yamanaka) |
Stockholm
(AFP) - Yoshinori Ohsumi of Japan won the Nobel Medicine Prize Monday for his
pioneering work on autophagy -- a process whereby cells "eat
themselves" -- which when disrupted can cause Parkinson's and diabetes.
A fundamental
process in cell physiology, autophagy is essential for the orderly recycling of
damaged cell parts and understanding it better has major implications for
health and disease, including cancer.
Ohsumi's
discoveries "have led to a new paradigm in the understanding of how the
cell recycles its contents," the jury said.
"Mutations
in autophagy genes can cause disease, and the autophagic process is involved in
several conditions including cancer and neurological disease," the jury
added.
Ohsumi told
reporters in Tokyo that winning the Nobel "was my childhood dream, but it
has not been the focus of my concern since I got into research -- I don't like
competing."
Researchers
first observed during the 1960s that a cell could destroy its own contents by wrapping
them up in membranes and transporting them to a degradation compartment called
the lysosome -- a discovery that earned Belgian scientist Christian de Duve a
Nobel Medicine Prize in 1974.
It was de
Duve who coined the term "autophagy", which comes from the Greek
meaning self-eating.
In what the
jury described as a "series of brilliant experiments in the early
1990s", Ohsumi used baker's yeast to identify genes essential for
autophagy.
He then
went on to explain the underlying mechanisms for autophagy in yeast and showed
that similar sophisticated machinery is used in human cells.
Ohsumi was
able to build on de Duve's work and prove that the lysosome "wasn't a
waste dump, it was a recycling plant," Karolinska Institute professor
Juleen Zierath explained.
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Images to
illustrate the work of Yoshinori Ohsumi are displayed during a press
conference
at the Nobel Forum in Stockholm, on October 3, 2016 (AFP Photo/
Jonathan
Nackstrand)
|
'Highest
honour'
Ohsumi's
findings opened the path to understanding the importance of autophagy in many
physiological processes, such as how the body adapts to starvation or responds
to infection.
When
autophagy breaks down, links have been established to Parkinson's disease, type
2 diabetes and other disorders that tend to appear in the elderly.
Intense
research is now under way to develop drugs that target autophagy in various
diseases.
Ohsumi, 71,
received a PhD from the University of Tokyo in 1974. He is currently a
professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
The prize
comes with eight million Swedish kronor (around $936,000 or 834,000 euros).
"This
is the highest honour for a researcher," Ohsumi told Japan's public
broadcaster NHK.
"My
motto is to do what others don't want to do. I thought (cellular breakdown) was
very interesting. This is where it all begins.
It didn't
draw much attention in the past, but we're now in a time when there is a bigger
focus on it," added Ohsumi.
Scandal-tainted jury
The
medicine prize is awarded by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute,
which has seen a shadow cast over its reputation following a recent scandal
involving Italian surgeon Paolo Macchiarini.
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Nobel Prize
in Medicine (AFP Photo)
|
His work
was initially hailed as a game-changer for transplant medicine. But two
patients died and a third was left severely ill.
Allegations
ensued that the risky procedure had been carried out on at least one individual
who had not, at the time, been critically ill, and in 2014 several surgeons at
Karolinska filed a complaint alleging that Macchiarini had downplayed the risks
of the procedure.
Karolinska
suspended all synthetic trachea transplants shortly after and fired
Macchiarini.
Two members
of the Nobel medicine prize assembly were forced to step down in September over
the scandal.
The 2016
Nobel season continues Tuesday with the physics prize announcement, with the
discovery of gravitational waves seen as a potential winner.
The first
observation of gravitational waves was announced in February 2016, a major
research breakthrough that confirms one of Albert Einstein's predictions in his
theory of general relativity.
The
chemistry prize, announced on Wednesday, could go to classic research in the
field, with speculation pointing to researchers who added new elements to the
periodic table, such as nihonium or moscovium.
On Friday,
all eyes will turn to Oslo where perhaps the most prestigious of the awards,
the peace prize, will be announced.
The
Norwegian jury has sifted through an avalanche of nominations this year -- a
record 376, almost a hundred more than the previous record from 2014.
Among those
often cited as likely winners are the architects of two historic accords: the recent
peace deal in Colombia between the government and the leftist FARC rebels; and
the Iranian nuclear deal.
But in a
shock upset, Colombians on Sunday voted against the peace deal by a razor-thin
majority in a referendum.
The
economics prize will be announced on October 10, and the literature prize wraps
things up on October 13.
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