Nobel Laureates Michael Brown and Joseph Goldstein

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1985

"for their discoveries concerning the regulation of cholesterol metabolism"

Michael S. Brown and Joseph L.Goldstein won the Nobel Prize in 1985 for discovering the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor, a cell surface protein that binds lipid-protein complexes containing cholesterol. (See Monday's Molecule #243.)

Here's part of the Press Release.

THEME:
Nobel Laureates

Michael S. Brown and Joseph L. Goldstein have through their discoveries revolutionized our knowledge about the regulation of cholesterol metabolism and the treatment of diseases caused by abnormally elevated cholesterol levels in the blood. They found that cells on their surfaces have receptors which mediate the uptake of the cholesterol-containing particles called low-density lipoprotein (LDL) that circulate in the blood stream. Brown and Goldstein have discovered that the underlying mechanism to the severe hereditary familial hypercholesterolemia is a complete, or partial, lack of functional LDL-receptors. In normal individuals the uptake of dietary cholesterol inhibits the cells own synthesis of cholesterol. As a consequence the number of LDL-receptors on the cell surface is reduced. This leads to increased levels of cholesterol in the blood which subsequently may accumulate in the wall of arteries causing atherosclerosis and eventually a heart attack or a stroke. Brown and Goldstein’s discoveries have lead to new principles for treatment, and prevention, of atherosclerosis.

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