Greater health revolutions ahead with microRNA

This year's Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded to United States scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun "for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation", as announced in Stockholm on Monday.

This is the third consecutive year that the awardees in this category are associated with genetics. The 2023 prize had gone to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for their research in "nucleoside base modifications that enabled the development of effective mRNA vaccines against COVID-19", while the 2022 award went to Svante Pääbo for his discoveries concerning "the genomes of extinct hominins and human evolution", which was based on modern DNA technologies.

It all began way back in 1944 when Oswald Avery found that DNA is the bearer of an organism's genetic code, which was elaborated upon later on by James Watson and Francis Crick, who showed the DNA molecule has a long double helix structure and the RNA molecule a long single helix structure, which are like encryptions with which mankind can influence the traits of new lives. That opened up the possibility of tweaking genes in order to get better vegetables, fruits and cattle species in a way much more efficient than in the past when people had no choice but to wait for generations of them to improve.

More importantly, with the human genome map finished drawing and releases in 2003, scientists have been developing drugs and coming up with treatments for diseases based on genetic studies. Unlike editing human embryo genes which is illegal, studies show the possibility of curing diseases by tweaking DNA. CRISPR/Cas9, a tool that is also called "genetic scissors", is being used to treat cancer by removing genes or correcting mutations. CAR T-cell Therapy, an emerging immunotherapy that has proven effective in fighting blood cancer in some patients in 2021, also involves gene technologies.

Ambros and Ruvkun's discovery of microRNA and its crucial role in genetic regulation will definitely lead to greater breakthroughs in medical science, bringing hope to more patients suffering from diseases that are considered fatal today. There was a saying that the 21st century is a century of life science and the flourishing gene science is proving that.

— ZHANG ZHOUXIANG, CHINA DAILY