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CELL DEATH GIVES HOPE FOR LIFE
5 May 2000

The Academy of Science’s Gottschalk Medal has been awarded to a medical scientist at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research in Melbourne, Dr David Vaux, 40. Dr Vaux’s research into cell death offers hope for the treatment of heart attack, stroke and cancer.

Cell death is an essential part of life. The cells in our bodies are constantly dividing, producing hundreds of thousands of new cells every second. To maintain balance, for every new cell, one cell must die. Our cells are programmed to kill themselves through a process called apoptosis. Programmed cell death prevents cancer by eliminating cells with damaged genetic material. It is also at work when insects metamorphose or tadpoles lose their tails.

Through the study of the commonest blood cancer, follicular lymphoma, Dr Vaux has made seminal discoveries about the cell death mechanism. Cells in follicular lymphoma have an abnormal chromosome because two chromosomes have broken and rejoined the wrong way, causing a gene called Bcl-2 to be switched on. Dr Vaux discovered that Bcl-2 is an inhibitor of cell death. This showed that the ultimate cause of the cancer is not increased cell division, as had been thought, but the failure of the damaged cells to die.

When he inserted the human Bcl-2 gene into a nematode, which has only about 1000 cells, Dr Vaux found that it inhibited cell death that occurred during development of the worm. This showed a remarkable genetic similarity between animals from different stages of evolution, and pointed the way to the uncovering of the biochemistry of cell death in humans.

Since making these discoveries, Dr Vaux has been trying to apply an understanding of cell death to the treatment of cancer. Because the cell death mechanism in the cancerous cells has already been damaged, it is difficult to induce these cells to kill themselves. So his approach has been to try to limit the deadly side-effects of chemotherapy on non-cancerous cells by inhibiting their suicidal response.

Drug companies are also applying the research into cell death to heart attacks and stroke. When a blood vessel is blocked, cells die not only because of lack of oxygen, but also because of stress, which sets off programmed cell death. Treatment with an inhibitor of the enzymes that mediate cell death may limit the amount of damage.

The Gottschalk Medal is awarded each year to a younger scientist who has made significant contributions to biology or medical science. Earlier Gottschalk medallists are now internationally recognised leaders in their fields.