Tony Hunter, Brian Druker and John Mendelsohn have won this year’s Tang Prize in biopharmaceutical science for their breakthroughs in developing targeted cancer therapies, the Tang Prize Selection Committee announced yesterday.
Their research and findings of protein tyrosine phosphorylation and tyrosine kinases as oncogenes have led to successful targeted cancer therapies, the committee said.
The three winners, all Americans, have shown how basic science can lead to clinical applications that benefit humankind, said Chang Wen-chang (張文昌), a member of Academia Sinica and the convener of the selection committee.
Photo: CNA
Hunter demonstrated that a mechanism called tyrosine phosphorylation acts as a master on/off switch for a number of key proteins that are critical for successful cancer therapies, the committee said.
Hunter, a professor of biology at the Salk Institute, gave birth to the field of targeted therapies after discovering in 1979 the mechanism of tyrosine phosphorylation and that the oncogene Src is a tyrosine kinase.
The historic discovery paved the way for active research in the following two decades on tyrosine kinase oncogenes, ultimately leading to the development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs).
Based on Hunter’s discovery, Druker, the director of Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute, led the successful clinical trial of a cancer-fighting drug called imatinib.
The drug turned chronic myelogenous leukemia, a cancer that once had a very low survival rate, into a manageable condition.
Gleevec, a brand of imatinib, shuts off oncogenic signals by inhibiting Abl-protein tyrosine kinases as predicted by Hunter’s original research, the committee said.
Gleevec has also been successfully used in the treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia and certain types of gastrointestinal stromal tumors by inhibiting other tyrosine kinase oncoproteins.
There are more than 26 TKIs that have been approved for clinical use. All of the discoveries have Druker’s first successful trials to thank because they spurred this still burgeoning targeted therapy era, the committee said.
John Mendelsohn, president emeritus of MD Anderson Cancer Center, took another approach to combating cancer.
An alternative way of shutting off the activities of tyrosine kinases on the cell surface (receptor tyrosine kinase) is to develop antibodies against the extracellular domain of the receptor, the committee said.
In such a way, the natural ligand, or growth factor, can no longer bind and the receptor tyrosine kinase is no longer activated. Mendelsohn and his team came up with the idea that antibodies targeting the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) may be an effective strategy for cancer treatment.
Mendelsohn led his team in conducting preclinical research and proceeded to develop the anti-EGFR antibody cetuximab, which eventually won the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval for the treatment of colon cancer and head/neck cancer.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and