Harald zur Hausen, 87, Nobel laureate who found cause of cervical cancer, dies

When he proposed that the human papillomavirus caused cervical cancer, he was ridiculed. He persevered, and today a vaccine exists.
Dr. Harald zur Hausen, a German virologist who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 for his discovery that the seemingly benign human papillomavirus, known to cause warts, also causes cervical cancer, died May 29 in his home in Heidelberg, Germany. He was 87.
His death was announced by the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, which Dr. zur Hausen headed for two decades. Josef Puchta, the center's former administrative director and longtime colleague and friend, said Dr. zur Hausen had a stroke in May.
Dr. zur Hausen's discovery paved the way for vaccines against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that can also cause other cancers, including of the vagina, vulva, penis, anus and the back of the throat.
More than 600,000 people develop HPV-related cancer each year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Vaccination can prevent up to 90% of these cancers.
Dr. zur Hausen leaves “a huge legacy”, “Dr. Margaret Stanley, HPV researcher at the University of Cambridge, said in an interview: A life-saving vaccine and life-saving tests to detect the virus.
Colleagues are remembered Dr. zur Hausen as courteous, considerate and respectful - not always evident in high-level research labs, they noted - and more than one described him as a "gentleman".

He was stubbornly dedicated to his research and could be "unwavering" when he had an idea, said Timo Bund, a scientist at the German Cancer Research Center. Dr. zur Hausen's hypothesis that HPV causes cervical cancer contradicts the mainstream wisdom of "almost everyone in science," Dr. Bund said, and took him a decade to prove. /p>
When he first proposed this notion in the 1970s, many scientists believed that cervical cancer was caused by the virus herpes simplex. But Dr. zur Hausen found no signs of herpes in biopsies from patients with cervical cancer. When he presented these results at a scientific conference in 1974, he was "intensely criticized", he recalled in an autobiographical article in the Annual Review of Virology.
ImageThe HPV vaccine can prevent up to 90% of all HPV-related cancers. Dr. zur Hausen's discovery of the link between HPV and cancer paved the way for the vaccine. zur Hausen had been intrigued by reports that genital warts could, in rare cases, turn into cancer. He began searching for human papillomavirus DNA in the cells of cervical cancer patients using a gene probe, a short piece of single-stranded DNA designed to bind to a specific sequence of the HPV genome.
The work proved difficult, in part because it became clear that there were many different types of HPV , each with its own gene...

Health Jun 10, 2023 0 38 Add to Reading List

Harald zur Hausen, 87, Nobel laureate who found cause of cervical cancer, dies

When he proposed that the human papillomavirus caused cervical cancer, he was ridiculed. He persevered, and today a vaccine exists.

Dr. Harald zur Hausen, a German virologist who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2008 for his discovery that the seemingly benign human papillomavirus, known to cause warts, also causes cervical cancer, died May 29 in his home in Heidelberg, Germany. He was 87.

His death was announced by the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg, which Dr. zur Hausen headed for two decades. Josef Puchta, the center's former administrative director and longtime colleague and friend, said Dr. zur Hausen had a stroke in May.

Dr. zur Hausen's discovery paved the way for vaccines against the human papillomavirus, or HPV, a sexually transmitted disease that can also cause other cancers, including of the vagina, vulva, penis, anus and the back of the throat.

More than 600,000 people develop HPV-related cancer each year, according to the National Cancer Institute. Vaccination can prevent up to 90% of these cancers.

Dr. zur Hausen leaves “a huge legacy”, “Dr. Margaret Stanley, HPV researcher at the University of Cambridge, said in an interview: A life-saving vaccine and life-saving tests to detect the virus.

Colleagues are remembered Dr. zur Hausen as courteous, considerate and respectful - not always evident in high-level research labs, they noted - and more than one described him as a "gentleman".

He was stubbornly dedicated to his research and could be "unwavering" when he had an idea, said Timo Bund, a scientist at the German Cancer Research Center. Dr. zur Hausen's hypothesis that HPV causes cervical cancer contradicts the mainstream wisdom of "almost everyone in science," Dr. Bund said, and took him a decade to prove. /p>

When he first proposed this notion in the 1970s, many scientists believed that cervical cancer was caused by the virus herpes simplex. But Dr. zur Hausen found no signs of herpes in biopsies from patients with cervical cancer. When he presented these results at a scientific conference in 1974, he was "intensely criticized", he recalled in an autobiographical article in the Annual Review of Virology.

ImageThe HPV vaccine can prevent up to 90% of all HPV-related cancers. Dr. zur Hausen's discovery of the link between HPV and cancer paved the way for the vaccine. zur Hausen had been intrigued by reports that genital warts could, in rare cases, turn into cancer. He began searching for human papillomavirus DNA in the cells of cervical cancer patients using a gene probe, a short piece of single-stranded DNA designed to bind to a specific sequence of the HPV genome.

The work proved difficult, in part because it became clear that there were many different types of HPV , each with its own gene...