The footballing great, World Cup winner and Argentinian legend, Lionel Messi, scored a hat trick in his opening game at the FIFA World Cup last night. His final goal equalled the most goals ever scored in the World Cup; 16 goals by Germany’s Miroslav Klose. Unfortunately for them, Algeria were on the receiving end of his genius.
Controversy has raged over the last few years to decide which footballer is the greatest of all time, the “GOAT”, with Cristiano Ronaldo the other player in the frame. Has Messi finally put that debate to bed with last night’s hat trick?
It got me thinking about who might be the greatest scientists of all time, who would Argentina enter into that competition? You may not know but Argentina has a rich scientific heritage and can certainly lay claim to some of the greatest scientists.
My vote would go to Cesar Milstein who won the Nobel Prize with German immunologist Georges Kohler for developing the method for production of monoclonal antibodies while working at the MRC Laboratory in Cambridge UK.
Monoclonal antibodies are generated by immunising a mouse with a specific antigen, isolating antibody producing B cells from the spleen, and fusing them with immortal myeloma cells. The resulting hybridomas are screened for desired specificity, cloned, and cultured to produce quantities of identical, highly specific antibodies.
Monoclonal antibodies have a myriad of uses from vital assay methods in the laboratory through to effective treatments for a wide range of conditions; they have transformed modern medicine.
Here’s a few examples…
Rituximab is used to deplete B cells by targeting the CD20 protein on the cell surface. This provides an effective treatment for various lymphomas, leukaemias and autoimmune diseases by reducing malignant or disease-causing B-cell activity [1].
Trastuzumab binds to the HER2 receptor on cancer cells, blocking tumour growth signals and improving survival outcomes for patients with HER2-positive breast and gastric cancers [2].
Adalimumab binds to and neutralises TNF-α, reducing inflammatory signalling and thereby alleviating symptoms and slowing disease progression in conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and inflammatory bowel disease [3].
Monoclonal antibody therapies have improved survival, reduced disease burden, and established targeted biologic treatment as a cornerstone of oncology and immunology.
Other Argentinian greats include Luis Federico Leloir who won the Nobel Prize in 1970 for his discovery of sugar nucleotides and their role in the biosynthesis of carbohydrates and Bernardo Houssay who won in 1947 for his discovery of the part played by the hormone of the anterior pituitary lobe in the metabolism of sugar.
But for me, it’s Cesar Milstein that hits the back of the net.
References
- Harrison AM, Thalji NM, Greenberg AJ, Tapia CJ, Windebank AJ. Rituximab for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma: a story of rapid success in translation. Clin Transl Sci. 2014;7(1):82–86.
- Piccart-Gebhart MJ, Procter M, Leyland-Jones B, Goldhirsch A, Untch M, Smith I, et al. Trastuzumab after adjuvant chemotherapy in HER2-positive breast cancer. N Engl J Med. 2005;353(16):1659–1672.
- Weinblatt ME, Keystone EC, Furst DE, Moreland LW, Weisman MH, Birbara CA, et al. Adalimumab, a fully human anti–tumor necrosis factor α monoclonal antibody, for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in patients taking concomitant methotrexate: the ARMADA.
