UNIT 1.2.3: NOBEL PRIZES

Emil von Behring

1901 Serum antitoxins (diphtheria)

Robert Koch

1905 Cellular immunity to TB

• Delayed type hypersensitivity

• T lymphocytes

Elie Metchnikoff

1908 Phagocytosis

• Shared it with Ehrlich

• Idea “Starfish” larvae

• Non-specific cell eating

Paul Ehrlich

1908 Immunity (always Ab and humoral substances)

• Shared it with Methcnikoff

Charles Richet

1913 Anaphylaxis (Hypersensitivity)

• Aberrant Ab responses

Jules Bordet

1919 Complement (“Alexine”)

• Heat-labile

• Groups of proteins that act like bombs

Karl Landsteiner

1930 Human blood group Ag (ABO)

• Mixing blood of different individuals = RBC clumping (Isoagglutinins)

• Specificity of Serologic Reactions (SSR)

Linus Pauling

1954 Antigen structure

• Specificity of Ab

• Template Hypothesis challenging Erlich’s Side Chain Theory

1963 Nobel Peace Prize (opposition to weapons of mass destruction and nuclear testing)

Macfarlane Burnet, Peter Medawar

1960 Discovery of immunologic tolerance

• Cell recognition

• Self-tolerance

• 1st evidence of the “Horror Autoxicus” of Erhlich

• Transplant rejection and acceptance

Gerald Edelman, Rodney Porter

1972 Structure of antibodies

• Electrophoresis

Rosalyn Yalow

1977 Radioimmunoassay

• One of the most sensitive techniques

George Snell, Jean Dausset, Baruj Benacerraf

1980 Major histocompatibility complex

• Genes that code for proteins on the cell surface

• Crucial for Ag recognition of T lymphocytes

• How the immune system defends

Niels Jerne

1984 Immunoregulation

• Various Ab specificities already exist before Ag

Georges Koehler, Cesar Milstein

1984 Monoclonal antibody and Hybridoma Technology

• Plasma cells: Slow to create Ab

• Cancer cells: Fast in Producing cells

• Plasma cells + Cancer cells = Hybridoma - Produces Ab faster

Susumu Tonegawa

1987 Antibody diversity

• 1 Ab : 5 Ig

• B lymphocyte surface has Ab

  • Genertic rearrangement

Edward Donnall Thomas, Joseph Murray

1991 Transplantation

Peter Doherty, Rolf Zinkernagel

1996 Cytotoxic T-cell recognition of virally infected cells (can become cancerous)

• Cytotoxic - kill cells infected by VIRUS ONLY

Stanley Pruisner

1997 Prions

• Infectious proteins

Gunter Blobel

1999 Signal Transduction

• By cytokines

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, Luc Montagnier

2008 Human immunodeficiency virus

Bruce Beutler, Jules Hoffman

2011 Innate immunity activation

• Different types of pathogens are sensed by pattern recognition receptors with specificity for microbe-associated molecular patterns

Ralph Steinman

2011 Dendritic cells

• Much more potent Ag presenters than macrophages

• Major instructors of T cells regarding the type of pathogen they will encounter

James Allison and Tasuku Honjo

2018 Cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation

• Blockades of checkpoint control improves T cell responses and thereby allows elimination of certain tumor cells, such as that of metastatic melanomas and non-small cell lung carcinomas

Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman

2023 Effective mRNA vaccines for COVID-19

• Nucleoside base modifications

Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, Shimon Sakaguchi

2025 Peripheral Immune Tolerance

• Regulatory T cell and FOXP3 gene

• FOXP3 is the master regulator controlling the development and function of T cells.