The Nobel Prize for Medicine goes to American biologists who discovered microRNA

The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded on Monday to the Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of microRNA, a fundamental principle that determines how gene activity is regulated.

The Nobel Assembly of the Karolinska Institute, which presented the prize, said the duo’s discovery “proves to be fundamental” for understanding how organisms develop and function. MicroRNA has opened up scientists’ approach to treating diseases such as cancer by helping to regulate how genes work at the cellular level, said Dr Claire Fletcher, lecturer in molecular oncology at Imperial College London.

Fletcher said microRNA provides genetic instructions to tell cells to make new proteins and that there are two main areas where microRNA could be useful: in developing drugs to treat diseases and in serving as biomarkers.

“MicroRNA changes 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 certain gene working overtime. It could be mutated and working in overdrive,” she said. “We can take a microRNA that we know changes the activity of that gene and we can deliver that specific microRNA to cancer cells to prevent that mutated gene from having its effect.”

Ambrose conducted the research that led to his award at Harvard University. He is currently a professor of natural sciences at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Rackham’s research was conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, where he is a professor of genetics, said Thomas Perlmann, secretary general of the Nobel Committee.

Options for future cancer treatment

Perlmann said he spoke with Ruvkun by phone shortly before the announcement.

“It took a long time for him to get on the phone, and [he] sounded very tired, but he was soon excited and happy when he understood what it was all about,” Perlmann said.

The prize carries a cash prize of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.4 million Cdn).

Fletcher said clinical trials are underway to see how microRNA approaches can help treat skin cancer, but no drug treatments have yet been approved by drug regulators. She expected this to happen in the next five to 10 years.

She said microRNA is another way to control the behavior of genes to treat and monitor various diseases.

“The majority of therapies we have right now target proteins in cells,” she said. “If we can intervene at the microRNA level, this opens up a whole new way to develop drugs and control the activity of genes whose levels can change in disease.”

The laureates will be invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896. The inventor left a large part of his fortune in his will to create the prizes that will be awarded from Stockholm and Oslo, although economics was a category that was added later.

Nobel Prizes will be announced in several areas in the coming week, including:

• Tuesday: Physics.
• Wednesday: Chemistry.
• Thursday: Literature.
• Friday: The Nobel Peace Prize.
• Monday October 14: Economy.