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| Dr. Robert Lefkowitz, of Duke University Medical Center. Lefkowitz |
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| Brian Kobilka |
Americans Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka won the 2012 Nobel Prize in
chemistry on Wednesday for studies of protein receptors that let body
cells sense and respond to outside signals. Such studies are key for
developing better drugs.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said the two researchers had made
groundbreaking discoveries on an important family of receptors, known as
G-protein-coupled receptors.
About half of all medications act on these receptors, so learning about them will help scientists to come up with better drugs.
The human body has about 1,000 kinds of such receptors, which let it
respond to a wide variety of chemical signals, like adrenaline. Some
receptors are in the nose, tongue and eyes, and let us sense smells,
tastes and vision.
Dr. Lefkowitz, 69, is an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical
Institute and professor at Duke University Medical Center in Durham,
North Carolina. Dr. Kobilka, 57, is a professor at Stanford University
School of Medicine in California.
“I’m feeling very, very excited,” Dr. Lefkowitz told a news conference
in Stockholm by phone. “I did not hear it ... I wear earplugs, so my
wife gave me an elbow,” he said. “And there it was. ... It was a total
shock and surprise.”
Dr. Lefktowitz said he had no clue that he was being considered for the
Nobel Prize, though he added it has always been “a bit of a fantasy” to
receive the award.
Dr. Kobilka said he found out around 2-30 a.m., after the Nobel
committee called his home twice. He said he didn’t get to the phone the
first time, but that when he picked up the second time, he spoke to five
members of the committee. “They passed the phone around and
congratulated me. I guess they do that so you actually believe them.
When one person calls you, it can be a joke, but when five people with
convincing Swedish accents call you, then it isn’t a joke.”
The academy said it was long a mystery how cells interact with their
environment and adapt to new situations, such as when adrenaline
increases blood pressure and makes the heart beat faster. Scientists
suspected that cell surfaces had some type of receptor for hormones.
Using radioactivity, Dr. Lefkowitz managed to unveil receptors including
the receptor for adrenaline, and started to understand how it works.
Dr. Kobilka’s work helped researchers realize that there is a whole
family of receptors that look alike a family that is now called
G-protein-coupled receptors.
The award is “fantastic recognition for helping us further understand
the intricate details of biochemical systems in our bodies,” said Bassam
Z. Shakhashiri, president of the American Chemical Society. “They both
have made great contributions to our understanding of health and
disease,” Dr. Shakhashiri said. “This is going to help us a great deal
to develop new pharmaceuticals, new medicines for combating disease.”
Mark Downs, chief executive of Britain’s Society of Biology, said the
critical role receptors play is now taking for granted. “This ground
breaking work spanning genetics and biochemistry has laid the basis for
much of our understanding of modern pharmacology as well as how cells in
different parts of living organisms can react differently to external
stimulation, such as light and smell, or the internal systems which
control our bodies such as hormones,” Mr. Downs said in a statement.
The Nobel week started Monday with the medicine prize going to stem cell
pioneers John Gurdon of Britain and Japan’s Shinya Yamanaka. Frenchman
Serge Haroche and American David Wineland won the physics prize Tuesday
for work on quantum particles.
The Nobel Prizes were established in the will of 19th century Swedish
industrialist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite. Each award is
worth 8 million kronor, or about $1.2 million. The awards are always
handed out on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896.
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