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'Kiss of Death' Discoverers Get Nobel Prize

Posted by timothy on from the ask-your-doctor-if-ubiquitin-is-right-for-you dept.

baldinux writes "Science Daily has written an article describing the cellular process of regulated protein degredation, which has landed three people the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. According to the article, this finding could greatly help researchers understand ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation, making it possible to develop drugs to treat cervical cancer, for example."

10 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Hmmm... by static0verdrive · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Is cervical cancer different from other cancer? I'm not trolling here, I'm genuinely confused. Why mention that over other forms of cancer - is there something about this research that limits the types of cancer that can be fought with the resulting drugs?

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    1. Re:Hmmm... by pgolik · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Most cases of cervical cancer are related to HPV infections. HPV uses a very clever mechanism to overcome cellular defenses. One of the main proteins that protect cells and keep them from becoming cancerous is the p53 protein. In most cancers something must happen to p53 for the cancerogenesis to proceed. HPV makes a protein (called E6) that binds p53 and by doing that marks it for degradation by the ubiquitn pathway. Understanding how that pathway works is therefore essential for treating HPV dependent cancers.

  2. Re:Not to nitpick, but it already had one... by Gogo+Dodo · · Score: 3, Interesting
    UC Irvine now has three Nobel Laureates.

    In addition to the late Professor Reines, F. Sherwood Rowland received one in Chemistry the same year (1995) as Professor Reines.

  3. Re:Like programming? by Have+Blue · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This isn't *quite* like mark-and-sweep garbage collection. The additional ubiquitin just makes the protein "vulnerable" to the protein destroyers which are distributed throughout the body. The equivalent of the Java GC would be if the body marked proteins for a long period, then entered a relatively brief phase of rapid protein recycling, which AFAIK doesn't happen.

  4. Re:Live Forever? by phyruxus · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Noo.... the body would just break down as proteins beyond their life cycle break down and fail to be recycled.

    If you want to live forever, you need to do something about the telomeres in your cells after division. Stem cell research wouldn't hurt either. BTW, adult humans have stem cells.

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    "A witty saying proves nothing." ~Voltaire
    "d'Oh!" ~Homer
  5. The man who is not happy today is at Caltech. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    His name is Alex Varshavsky. Many thought that when the Nobel prize was awarded for ubiquitin-regulated degradation of proteins ("the kiss of death"), he would be among the winners. He's won a number of big scientific awards, usually with Avram Hershko (one of today's winners). The suprise today was that Varshavsky was left off and Irwin Rose (UCI) was included.

    1. Re:The man who is not happy today is at Caltech. by DrKyle · · Score: 2, Interesting

      A Nobel prize can only get split among three people, so if you're going to discover anything revolutionary make sure you only have 2 other people working with you.

  6. Re:Potentially Broad Application by magefile · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Is this the same Angelman's linked to Prader-Willi Syndrome? IIRC, if the defective gene is on a maternal chromosome, it causes one of those two conditions, if it's on a paternal chromosome it causes the other.

  7. Nobel Committee Needs Reorganization! by mulescent · · Score: 3, Interesting
    As a chemist, I must say its very odd to watch the prize in chemistry being awarded for what is, essentially, biology. This happened last year too - the chemistry prize was awarded to those who figured out how cell membrane-spanning channels worked. The work thats being done in the field of biology needs to be acknowledged, but perhaps the Nobel committee should create a separate biology prize so the chemists can get their due!

  8. There already is a biology prize -- Medicine! by Jonathan · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's exactly the same story -- the Medicine & Physiology prize rarely goes to physicians (or even the somewhat dying breed of non-molecular biologists that go by the name of "physiologist") -- instead both the Medicine and Chemistry prize tend to go to molecular biologists/cell biologists/biochemists (no real difference between those names).

    Considering that I'm a genomicist, I should be happy -- my near infinitesimal chances of winning a Nobel are doubled, but still, I can see that actual physicians and chemists might be miffed that their prizes have been co-opted