The French scientists who discovered HIV have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine. The prize will be shared with the researcher who linked human papilloma virus and cervical cancer.
In 1984, Profs Françoise Barré-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were the first investigators to identify the viral cause of AIDS. They started their research in 1981 following early reports of the new disease and by 1984 had isolated the retroviral cause from individuals who had acquired the virus sexually, from blood products or from infants infected by their mother.
The newly discovered virus was named HIV in 1986. The identification of HIV allowed the development of diagnostic tests and effective antiretroviral medicines.
Research by Prof Robert Gallo in the US identified HIV separately from the French investigators, leading to controversy at the time as to who first discovered HIV. Gallo had undertaken important research into retroviruses that helped the French investigators identify HIV. The two teams of investigators are now recognised as co-discoverers of HIV.
The pace of research into HIV has been without precedent in medicine with the infectious cause identified only four years after the first reported cases of AIDS, and effective antiretroviral therapy within 15 years. The citation from the Nobel committee notes that “never before have science and medicine been so quick to discover, identify the origin and provide treatment for a new disease entity”. The citation continues, “successful antiretroviral therapy results in life expectancies for persons with HIV infection now reaching levels similar to those of uninfected people.”
Human papilloma virus link with cervical cancer
Sharing the Nobel prize with Prof Barré-Sinoussi and Montagnier is Prof Harald zur Hausen. His research established a link between certain strains of human papilloma virus and cervical cancer. This finding was instrumental to the development of vaccines against human papilloma virus.