Three Scientists’ Work on DNA Repair Earns Nobel Prize in Chemistry
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The winners of the 2015 Nobel Prize for Chemistry: Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich and Aziz Sancar. Photo: (L - R) Alastair Grant/Associated Press, Kevin Wolf/HHMI/Reuters, MAX ENGLUND / UNC HEALTH CARE/European Pressphoto Agency
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Gautam Naik and
Gautam Naik
The Wall Street Journal
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Biography Gautam Naik Gautam.Naik@wsj.com
Anna Molin
Anna Molin
The Wall Street Journal
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Biography Anna Molin @AnnaWSJ anna.molin@wsj.com
Updated Oct. 7, 2015 12:14 p.m. ET
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STOCKHOLM—A trio of scientists was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for describing how cells repair damaged DNA, breakthroughs that are helping to guide the development of new cancer drugs.
The prize was shared by Tomas Lindahl of Sweden, Paul Modrich of the U.S., and Aziz Sancar, a dual American and Turkish citizen.
Their research—done independently of one another—provided crucial insights into how a living cell functions, about the molecular causes of several hereditary diseases, and about mechanisms behind both cancer development and aging, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
“To provide better treatment and better [cancer] drugs, we of course have to understand how DNA is damaged,” said Dr. Lindahl during the award announcement.
Scientists used to believe that DNA, the molecule of life, was stable. But in the 1970s, Dr. Lindahl realized that DNA undergoes decay because it is subject to thousands of potentially devastating injuries every day, whether from ultraviolet radiation, free radicals, or carcinogenic substances such as cigarette smoke. Dr. Lindahl figured that the cell must have molecular systems for repairing the various DNA defects. He then identified a bacterial enzyme that is part of the cell’s toolbox for DNA repair and published the finding in 1974.
The DNA decay rate was so high it ought to have made the development of life impossible. It led to a question: how does DNA survive this barrage of assaults without disintegrating into chemical chaos?
The work of Sweden’s Tomas Lindahl, Paul Modrich of the U.S., and Aziz Sancar, a dual American and Turkish citizen, won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for providing a toolbox for DNA repairs and safeguarding of genetic information, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
“That was the start of 35 years of successful work, during which Tomas Lindahl has found and examined many of the proteins in the cell’s toolbox for DNA repair,” the Swedish academy said. In particular, Dr. Lindahl discovered a molecular machinery called “base excision repair,” which constantly fends off the collapse of DNA.
Separately, Dr. Sancar mapped a process known as “nucleotide excision repair,” which enables cells to repair UV damage to DNA. People who inherit defects in this repair mechanism can develop skin cancer when exposed to sunlight.
Dr. Modrich was recognized for demonstrating how cells use a mechanism, called “mismatch repair,” to fix errors that occur when DNA is replicated during cell division.
Such work has implications for cancer treatment. For example, a drug given to a patient to kill off cancer cells isn’t always effective because “the cancer cell fights back with DNA repair,” said Dr. Lindahl. Disabling the cancer cell’s DNA repair mechanism could lead to more effective medicines.
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“As far as I know, every single drug company in the world in this field is looking at new ways to treat cancer. This is one way to attack cancer cells—to inhibit repair,” said Olof Ramström, professor in chemistry at the Royal Institute of Technology and member of the prize committee.
Regarded as the most prestigious prize for chemistry research, the 114-year-old Nobel award is given to recipients whose discoveries have “conferred the greatest benefit to mankind,” as stipulated in the will of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, who died in 1896. The winners will share a cash award of 8 million Swedish kronor ($971,200).
Dr. Lindahl is emeritus director of Cancer Research U.K. at Clare Hall Laboratory. Dr. Modrich is a professor of biochemistry at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C., Dr. Sancar is a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C. |
