a5F
An
Ping
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Kan
Chi
Hon
THE
2O()2
NOBEL
LAUREATE
lN
MEDICINE:THE
SIGNIFICANCE
OF'CELL
DEATH'RESEARCH
The
2002 Nobel prize
for
medi-
cine was
awarded
to 3
scientists,
Sydney Brenner
of
the Salk lnstitute
lor
Biological Studies, California, to
John
Sulston
of
the
Sanger
Centre,
Cambridge,
UK and
to
Robert Horvitz
of
the
Massachusetts lnstitute
of
Tech-
nology
for their success in
apotosis
research. "Apotosis" was
first
employed
in
1972
by
Kerr & Wyllie
lor
pro-
grammed
cell
development
and
gradual
death. Now,
3
scientists have found in-
dependently through
their
work on
a
simple
model system -
a
tiny transpar-
ent
roundworm C. elegans.
The
pro-
grammed
cell death has
much
to
do
with organ and disease
development.
Like
a
sculptor shaving
off bits of
marble
to shape a statue, the body uses
cell
death to
shape
developing organs.
Dr
Brenner showed how C. elegans
was
useful
for
these
studies.
He
also
showed how a chemical could cause
mutations that are linked to specific ef-
fects on organ development. He was
the first to sequence the genome
of
the
entire
C.
Elegans roundworm.
Dr
Horvitz
has found
the first 2 genes
re-
sponsible
for
"cell
death". ll
the tight
control of cell death is lost, diseases
may develop
-
excessive cell
death
leads to diseases
like
AIDS, stroke and
Parkinson's; on
the
other hand, insutfi-
cient
cell
death means crippled cells
remaining
that
may lead to cancers
or
auto-immune diseases, e.9., lupus.
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