ABSTRACT
Vaccination, the transmission of "vaccine", a benign disease of cows, to immunize human beings against smallpox, was invented by Jenner at the end of the eighteenth century. Pasteur, convinced that the vaccine microbe was an attenuated form of the smallpox microbe, showed that, similarly, attenuated forms of other microbes immunized against animal diseases. When applying this principle to rabies, he realized that, in this case, the vaccine was in fact composed of dead microbes. One of his students immediately exploited this result to devise a vaccine against typhoid. The vaccines against diphtheria and tetanus, in 1921, opened a new route, that of immunization with molecules from the pathogenic microbes. Molecular biology then allowed the production of the immunogenic molecules by microorganisms such as yeast, or immunization by genetically modified viruses or messenger RNA inducing our own cells to produce these molecules.
La vaccination, transmission de la vaccine, maladie bénigne des vaches, pour immuniser les humains contre la variole, a été inventée par Jenner à la fin du XVIII e siècle. Pasteur, convaincu que le microbe de la vaccine est une forme atténuée de celui de la variole, montre que des formes atténuées d'autres microbes immunisent des animaux contre des maladies. Lors de l'application à la rage, il comprend que la préparation vaccinale qu'il utilise dans ce cas est en fait constituée de microbes tués. Conclusion aussitôt exploitée par l'un de ses élèves dans la conception d'un vaccin contre la typhoïde. Les vaccins contre la diphtérie et le tétanos, en 1921, ouvrent une troisième voie, celle de l'immunisation par des molécules provenant des microbes pathogènes. La biologie moléculaire va permettre la production de ces molécules immunogènes par des micro-organismes tels que des levures, ou bien l'immunisation par des virus génétiquement modifiés ou par de l'ARN messager, conduisant nos propres cellules à produire ces molécules.
Subject(s)
Smallpox , Female , Male , Humans , Animals , Cattle , RNA, MessengerABSTRACT
Jacques Monod's ideas on the applications of science came within the scope of a long tradition at the Institut Pasteur. Louis Pasteur, whose scientific career was characterized by a permanent come and go between science and its applications, long opposed the idea of getting any income from his research, until the financial needs of the Institut Pasteur made him change his mind. As for Jacques Monod, he remained a fervent supporter of basic science during his whole scientific career. However, once he became director of the Institut Pasteur, he realized that the applications of research had to be developed to support the institute from a financial point of view. Thus, he reorganized the valorization of research in the institute, through an incitation of scientists to develop projects with possible applications, and by creating a company, Institut Pasteur Production, for which he had a factory built, and which was in charge of producing and commercializing the vaccines and reagents stemming from the research at the Institut Pasteur.
Subject(s)
Academies and Institutes/history , Biomedical Research/history , Molecular Biology/history , Academies and Institutes/economics , Biomedical Research/economics , History, 19th Century , History, 20th Century , Humans , Research Support as Topic/historyABSTRACT
The anthrax letters crisis, following the discovery of a major bacterial warfare program in the USSR and the realization that Irak had been on the verge of using anthrax as a weapon during the first Gulf war, had the consequence of putting anthrax back on the agenda of scientists. Fortunately, although it was mostly unknown by the public before these events, it was far from unknown by microbiologists. Already mentioned in the bible as a disease of herbivores, it remained a major cause of death for animals all over the planet until the end of the 19th century, with occasional, sometimes extensive, contamination of human beings. The aetiological agent, Bacillus anthracis, was identified by French and German scientists in the 1860s and 1870s. This was the first time that a disease could be attributed to a specific microorganism. The discovery by Koch that this bacterium formed spores greatly contributed to the understanding of the disease epidemiology. Studies on the pathophysiology of anthrax led to the identification of two major virulence factors, the capsule, protecting the bacilli against phagocytosis, and a tripartite toxin. The latter consists of two toxins with a common component (protecting antigen, PA) that allows the binding to and penetration into cells of two enzymes, the oedema factor EF, a calmodulin dependent adenylate cyclase, and the lethal factor LF, a specific zinc metalloprotease. The primary targets of these toxins would seem to be cells of innate immunity that would otherwise impair multiplication of the bacilli. If detected early enough, B. anthracis infections can be stopped by using antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin. Infection of animals can be prevented by the administration of vaccines, the first of which was developed by Pasteur after an historical testing at Pouilly-le-Fort which marked the beginning of the science of vaccines.
