Nobel Prize in Medicine for two scientists for “revolutionary discoveries” to treat pain – Telam

American scientists David Jules and Patapoutien Ardem (Lebanese and Armenian descent) won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries of receptors in the nervous system involved in sensing temperature and touch, key information for the development of therapies for different diseases and pains.

“The findings of the two researchers relate to knowledge of how external stimuli – for example, caused by temperatures, irritants, contact signals, etc. – are transmitted to the central nervous system.”, explained to Tlam the doctor in Biological Sciences of Conicet Gustavo Paratcha, director of the Molecular and Cellular Neurosciences Laboratory Institute of Cellular Biology and Neurosciences (IBCN) -Conicet.

And he continued: “This finding is important to understand in everyday life. how we perceive sensory stimuli and for the treatment of diseases related to pain transduction (conversion of one sensory stimulus into another), since one of the strategies for generating analgesic substances consists in the study of the molecular bases which underlie the detection of painful stimuli “.

Paratcha explained that “the receptors identified by these two researchers (such as those of the TRP and Piezo families) will be important targets for the development of therapies for pathologies linked to pain”.

In the late 1990s, David Julius began to study which cell receptors were “activated” by capsaicin, the hot ingredient in chili peppers, believing that this could provide fundamental information about the mechanisms of pain.

In this research, he identified a type of protein that allows the passage of specific ions and named them TRPV1.

“The TRPV1 receiver detects harmful heat, temperatures above 43 degrees Celsius, and it is also the one that detects when we eat something spicy, that is, that burning sensation that we have in the mouth is also generated by the activation of these receptors. “, explained the doctor in biomedical sciences Mara Florence Colonel, Head of the Cancer Pain Laboratory at the Translational Medicine Research Institute (Conicet-Universidad Austral).

Following the discovery of TRPV1, Julius and Ardem Patapoutian made another major breakthrough with the discovery of TRPM8 and subsequently several additional TRP receptors were identified which transduce thermal information into the somatosensory system.

“TRPM8, the M comes from menthol, is a receptor activated by substances that generate a feeling of freshness and by cold temperatures,” Coronel explained.

And he continued: “In 2010, Patapoutian also discovered the receptors Piezo, which are activated in the face of tactile stimuli such as a caress, a hug, contact of the skin with clothing, and also pain induced by mechanical stimuli, for example a slap or a hammer.

Coronel, who is working with his team specifically on the role of TRP receptors in pain generated in chemotherapy-treated patients with neurotoxic effects and chronic pain, said Patapoutian presented the Piezo receptors at a conference of neurooptic. pain she had witnessed.

“It was extremely exciting because until then the mediator had not been able to find in this type of stimulus”, he recalled.

The researcher pointed out that “all of these receptors are being studied for the development of pain therapy“.

“A peculiarity that they have is that they are located at the peripheral level, so the advantage that they offer is that it is not necessary to administer substances having effects on the central nervous system”, a he explained.

“Another problem – signal – is that since they participate in both the detection of harmless and harmful stimuli, they cannot be blocked directly because otherwise the patient loses the possibility of detecting stimuli to develop a normal life.”

The Colonel explained that at present, “the blockade of TRPV1 in patches containing capsaicin which produce desensitization of the area is already used in clinical practice for the treatment of persistent localized pain such as post neuralgia. -herptic “.

While “with the TRPM8, they design new cold therapies, for example, in patients with neuropathies due to chemotherapyWhen administering chemotherapy, refrigerated gloves or boots are used which will act at this level.

David Julius was born in 1955 in New York (United States), received his doctorate in 1984 from the University of California at Berkeley and was a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University, New York; He is currently a professor at the University of Colorado.

Ardem Patapoutian was born in 1967 in Beirut, Lebanon. In his youth, he moved from war-torn Beirut to Los Angeles (United States); in 1996, he obtained a doctorate from the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California at San Francisco; since 2000 he has been a scientist at Scripps Research, La Jolla (California), where he is now a professor; He has also been a researcher at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 2014.

The announcement of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was the first this year, Tuesday 5 will be announced that of Physics; Wednesday 6 of Chemistry; on Thursday 7 Literature; on Friday 8 that of La Paz, and on Monday 11 that of the Economy.

Winners of the last 10 years