Antiparasitic drugs derived from natural products take 2015 medicine Nobel
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| William Campbell (left) and Satoshi Omura (centre) received half the prize for discovering avermectin and Youyou Tu (right) received the other half for isolating artemisinin © Nobel Foundation |
The 2015 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has been split between three researchers for unearthing two naturally-occurring antimicrobial products that can fight parasitic diseases such as malaria and river blindness.
Irish-born William Campbell and Japan's Satoshi Omura win half of the prize for discovering avermectin, a derivative of which has been used to treat hundreds of millions of people with river blindness and lymphatic filariasis, or elephantiasis. China's Youyou Tu was awarded the other half of the prize for discovering artemisinin, a drug that has slashed malaria deaths and has become the mainstay of fighting the mosquito-borne disease.
William Campbell from Duke University, US, and Satoshi Ōmura at Kitasato University, Japan, are sharing half of the Nobel for their discovery of avermectin, a drug used to combat river blindness. The other half has been awarded to Youyou Tu at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine for her work on the antimalarial drug artemisinin.
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| The antiparasitic drug artemisinin was discovered in a plant and avermectin was found in a bacterium © Nobel Foundation |
The antiparasitic drug artemisinin was discovered in a plant and avermectin was found in a bacterium © Nobel Foundation
Although both Campbell and Ōmura and Tu adopted different approaches to isolate these compounds, their achievements have had an equally profound impact on society, according to Hans Forssberg, member of the Karolinska Institute Nobel committee. ‘The discoveries of the 2015 Nobel laureates … represent a paradigm shift in medicine, which has not only provided revolutionary therapies for patients suffering from devastating parasitic diseases, but has promoted wellbeing and prosperity both for the individual and society,’
Working in collaboration with the Merck Institute, US, in 1978, Ōmura collected soil samples across Japan and successfully isolated the bacterium Streptomyces avermitilis. From Ōmura’s cultures, Campbell was able to purify the active compound in the sample, avermectin. This was developed further to produce the drug ivermectin – an effective treatment against parasitic infections such as onchocerciasis, also known as river blindness.
Traditional link
In contrast to Ōmura and Campbell’s work, Tu was inspired by traditional Chinese medicine in pursuing a treatment for malaria. After researching treatments in the ancient Chinese text A handbook of prescriptions for emergencies by Ge Hong, written in 284AD, Tu noticed that the herb, sweet wormwood, had been used to alleviate malaria symptoms
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| Avermectin was the basis for a whole new class of antiparasitic drugs that are still in use today © Nobel Foundation |
Avermectin was the basis for a whole new class of antiparasitic drugs that are still in use today © Nobel Foundation
Inspired by the review, she successfully obtained an active compound, artemisinin, from the herbal remedy, but found it difficult to conduct clinical trials during the Cultural Revolution in China. After proving the extract was safe by testing it on herself, Tu developed artemisinin as a antimalarial drug. Since her discovery, it is estimated that the drug saves about 100,000 lives in Africa every year.
Tu’s recognition by the Nobel committee is great for the parasitology community, according to Colin Sutherland, reader in parasitology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. ‘There was quite a bit of excitement in our corridors when it broke,’ he tells Chemistry World. ‘You can’t underestimate the importance of … the piece of work of the prize winner, Tu, who [could] see a way to go from this herbal medicine that was a bit hit and miss … to a pharmaceutical product that could actually be distributed as a tablet.’
Paul Dyson, head of the Streptomyces genetics group at Swansea University, UK, believes Campbell and Ōmura’s Nobel prize falls at an important time for global health. ‘I think it’s really, really timely because we really need to discover new antibiotics and, personally, I think the way forward is to adopt Ōmura’s approach, which is looking for new organisms [that] we can isolate from the environment,’ Dyson says.
It’s a sentiment backed by Rebecca Goss, a bioorganic chemist at the University of St Andrews, UK. ‘Great to see the Nobel prize awarded for the work on avermectin and artemisinin – natural products historically and today continue to provide a wonderful medicinal treasure trove for the treatment of disease.’
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| Tu Youyou in the 1980s. Dr. Tu, 84, on Monday became the first citizen of the People’s Republic of China to win a Nobel Prize in the sciences, for discovering artemisinin, a drug that is now part of standard antimalarial regimens. Credit Yang Wumin/Xinhua, via Associated Press |
Dr. Tu, through the Institute of Chinese Materia Medica at the Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences where she works, issued a statement about the value of artemisinin and traditional Chinese medicine.
“Artemisinin is a gift for the world’s people from traditional Chinese medicine,” the statement said.
Two Chinese-born scientists had previously been awarded the Nobel in physics, but only after making their careers in the United States and becoming American citizens. The Chinese government has long wanted a Nobel in the sciences for the sake of prestige and as a confirmation of the quality of its education system.
The Chinese government and state-run news media celebrated Dr. Tu’s prize as an acknowledgment of the rising strength of Chinese science as well as a vindication of the value of traditional Chinese medicine. But some scientists and commentators also said that until now, China’s scientific establishment had treated Dr. Tu somewhat dismissively.
Prime Minister Li Keqiang said that Dr. Tu’s Nobel “was an expression of the prosperity and progress of Chinese science, and of the huge contribution that Chinese traditional medicine and pharmacy has made to the health of humankind.”
But Dr. Tu had been denied a place as an academician in China’s highest honorary body for scientists, apparently because of her lack of foreign training and a doctoral degree, other commentators noted.
Press release: http://goo.gl/50HjDA
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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/26/science
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/07/world/asia/
http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2015/10/natural-product-antiparasitic-drugs-2015-medicine-physiology-nobel
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