Two Nobel Prizes in Medicine gained thanks to a worm

One year has gone by since the achievement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine by Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for the development and subsequent improvement of the messenger RNA (mRNA) technology.
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This has made feasible the production of the revolutionary anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, which have globally saved hundreds of millions of lives during the CoViD-19 pandemic (1).


In 2024 the central stage has once again been taken by RNA, since the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery of "micro-RNAs" (miRNAs) (2). These are short, non-coding RNA sequences orchestrating human and animal genes' activities, which may result either stimulated or silenced by them. And, while their current applications in human as well as in veterinary medicine concern the diagnostic field, with several miRNAs being employed as disease biomarkers (3), their potential use in cancer therapy appears to be promising alongside their putative use in the cure of cardiovascular and neurodegenerative disorders as well as in that of infectious diseases in people and animals.


Still of interest, miRNAs were originally discovered thanks to the investigations carried out on a tiny, one millimeter-long roundworm termed Caenorhabditis elegans and made up of a thousand cells, the number of which does not change throughout its life. This is the reason why the Scientific Community has developed during the last 60 years a growing interest into the aforementioned nematode, with special emphasis on the biological events and mechanisms underlying cell death, cell regeneration and cell differentiation.

Thanks to these efforts, the key process of "programmed cell death" - alias "apoptosis" - was identified, with the pioneering investigations on the genes regulating it having been performed in C. elegans, fifty years ago, by Sydney Brenner, who in 2002 shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Robert Horvitz and John Sulston.


In conclusion, two highly deserved Nobel Prizes have been achieved throughout the last 22 years thanks to the studies carried out on C. elegans, a minute worm to which the whole mankind should be forever grateful!

References

1) Di Guardo G. (2023). The revolutionary mRNA technology: A fully deserved Nobel Prize! The BMJ (Rapid Response). https://www.bmj.com/content/382/bmj-2023-075015/rr

2) https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2024/press-release

3) Pazzaglia L., Leonardi L., Conti A., Novello C., Quattrini I., Montanini L., Roperto F., Del Piero F., Di Guardo G., Piro F., Picci P., Benassi M.S. (2015). MiR-196a expression in human and canine osteosarcomas: A comparative study. Research in Veterinary Science 99:112-119. DOI: 10.1016/j.rvsc.2014.12.017

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