Nobel Peace Prize Winner of Medicine in 2008

Scott Humason 10.28.08

CH 241: MWF 8:30-9:50

Harald zur Hausen: Nobel Peace Prize Winner of Medicine in 2008

Harald zur Hausen has been nominated for sharing this years' Nobel Peace Prize in Medicine. The Nobel Committee publicly announced this honorable selection on October 6th, 2008. The following award ceremony will take place in Stockholm, Sweden on December 10th were they will receive a Nobel Prize Medal, Diploma, and a financial promissory note from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. Traveling on to Oslo, Norway, they will receive the Nobel Peace Prize from the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

This remarkable display of appreciation comes from years of scientific research and for the discovery of the types of cervical cancer that originate from the human papilloma virus (HPV). The notion that cervical cancer could be a by product of HPV was met with much skepticism from the medical community. Herpes simplex was widely accepted as the most likely candidate for cervical cancer from the early 1970's. It took over a decade for Harald zur Hausen's team to prove that harmless warts can also lead to cervical cancer.

It is largely believed that the papilloma virus has largely unchanged for over 100 million years and that it co-evolves with a specific species and host animal over many years. This is largely in part that it doesn't change host species, nor does it quickly recombine into new forms, and that it can only replicate on the body surface tissues, all of this makes for a slow evolutionary path. The structure of this virus is a double stranded circular DNA molecule with a viral protein know as L2. Papillomaviruses replicate exclusively in the outer most layer of skin and mucosal surfaces – called keratinocytes.

The challenge that Harald zur Hausen and his team had to face is that there are a significant number HPV subtypes. Narrowing down which subtype may be cancer causing or not was a painstaking research process. In the 1980's Hausen's team found novel viruses in genital warts. Later, the finding of two novel HPV subtypes in cervical cancer studies formed a link of HPV to cervical cancer.

Professor Harald zur Hausen has an amazing 10 page summary style resume chalked full of accomplishments that focus on or around infection-induced malignancies.

Notable resume highlights are as follows. Harald received his MD from the University of Bonn, Hamburg. Following his MD, he worked at the University of Microbiology in Düsseldorf as a post doc. From here he worked at a number of specialty viral positions one of which landed him here in the United States as an assistant professor in the virus lab of the Children's Hospital. However, he has spent most of his working and studying career in Germany. To add to his list of accomplishments, he is also the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Cancer. He also holds seven honorary degrees and has received numerous international awards

Harald zur Hausen is obviously an amazingly accomplished man, especially in the field of infection-induced malignancies. His two to three decade long journey of research, and ultimately results specific to the Human Papilloma Virus, I believe has more than earned him a place in Nobel Peace Prize History and perhaps more importantly, his amazing contribution to the sciences and society has been acknowledged.

Citations:

(1) http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2008/index.html

(2) http://www.dkfz.de/en/zurhausen/index.html

(3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papillomavirus

(4) ^ Schiffman MH, Castle P (2003).

"Epidemiologic studies of a necessary causal risk factor: human papillomavirus infection and cervical neoplasia". J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 95 (6): E2. PMID 12644550.

(5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize

(6) http://nobelprize.org/award_ceremonies/

(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_zur_Hausen

(8) http://www.wdxcyber.com/nvulva04.htm