Det handlar om immunsystemet och kroppens försvar mot organismer utifrån såsombakterier, virus och parasiter allt som kan invadera kroppen.
Bruce Beutler och Jules Hoffman får dela på priset för en upptäckt som de gjorde 1996 när de upptäckte receptorer alltså mottagare på kroppens celler.
Professor Urban Lendahl berättar vad det har använts till rent praktiskt i vården.
– Det betyder väldigt mycket, det betyder både att vi förstår hur vi känner igen mikrober och andra mikroorganismer som attackerar i första frontlinjen.
Den andra hälften av Nobelpriset går till Ralph Steinman för hans upptäckt av dendritcellen.
Annika Scheynius som är professor i klinisk allergiforskning på Karolinska Institutet förklarar vad en dendritcell gör.
– De är spridda överallt i vår kropp och de är väldigt få. Tack vare att de har långa utskott sträcker de sig ut nästan som periskop i magtarmen eller ut genom huden. Det långa dendriterna bildar nästan som ett fångstnät och kommunicerar med varandra så det är en oerhörd försvarsmur. Var nu på vakt, reagera, skapa ett minne, ta hand om den här infektionen eller det här var inget att bry sig om
SR förklarade det hela rätt bra.
Om själva stuierna som fått priset.
Visa spoiler
Discovering the sensors of innate immunity
Jules Hoffmann made his pioneering discovery in 1996, when he and his co-workers investigated how fruit flies combat infections. They had access to flies with mutations in several different genes including Toll, a gene previously found to be involved in embryonal development by Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard (Nobel Prize 1995). When Hoffmann infected his fruit flies with bacteria or fungi, he discovered that Toll mutants died because they could not mount an effective defense. He was also able to conclude that the product of the Toll gene was involved in sensing pathogenic microorganisms and Toll activation was needed for successful defense against them.
Bruce Beutler was searching for a receptor that could bind the bacterial product, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), which can cause septic shock, a life threatening condition that involves overstimulation of the immune system. In 1998, Beutler and his colleagues discovered that mice resistant to LPS had a mutation in a gene that was quite similar to the Toll gene of the fruit fly. This Toll-like receptor (TLR) turned out to be the elusive LPS receptor. When it binds LPS, signals are activated that cause inflammation and, when LPS doses are excessive, septic shock. These findings showed that mammals and fruit flies use similar molecules to activate innate immunity when encountering pathogenic microorganisms. The sensors of innate immunity had finally been discovered.
The discoveries of Hoffmann and Beutler triggered an explosion of research in innate immunity. Around a dozen different TLRs have now been identified in humans and mice. Each one of them recognizes certain types of molecules common in microorganisms. Individuals with certain mutations in these receptors carry an increased risk of infections while other genetic variants of TLR are associated with an increased risk for chronic inflammatory diseases.
A new cell type that controls adaptive immunity
Ralph Steinman discovered, in 1973, a new cell type that he called the dendritic cell. He speculated that it could be important in the immune system and went on to test whether dendritic cells could activate T cells, a cell type that has a key role in adaptive immunity and develops an immunologic memory against many different substances. In cell culture experiments, he showed that the presence of dendritic cells resulted in vivid responses of T cells to such substances. These findings were initially met with skepticism but subsequent work by Steinman demonstrated that dendritic cells have a unique capacity to activate T cells.
Further studies by Steinman and other scientists went on to address the question of how the adaptive immune system decides whether or not it should be activated when encountering various substances. Signals arising from the innate immune response and sensed by dendritic cells were shown to control T cell activation. This makes it possible for the immune system to react towards pathogenic microorganisms while avoiding an attack on the body's own endogenous molecules.
[img] http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/2011/med_image_press_eng.pdf[/img]
Nu till det som ska diskuteras.
1. Fick rätt upptäckt priset? Vad under samma period borde kanske fått priset?
2. Vilka upptäckter som sker idag tror ni kommer få nobelpriset i framtiden?
3. Behöver vi nobelpriset i medicin? Ger det här oss någonting? Rent forskarmässigt är detta mer ett pris av ära en vad det gäller pengar.
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