To Alberto Mantovani the Fadoi ‘Internal Medicine Research Award 2023

The “Award 2023” of Fadoi, the Federation of hospital internists, was presented to the President of the Humanitas Foundation for Research in Congress in Milan from 6 to 8 May. Mantovani: “So primitive antibodies re-educate the corrupt cops of our immune system to fight against cancer”

08 MAG –

“With the studies on innate immunity and primitive antibodies, the Italian researchers led by Professor Alberto Mantovani are writing a new chapter in the history of medicine, bringing to light the potential that these molecules offer for the diagnosis and treatment of infections, as well as autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases”. With these reasons Francesco Dentalipresident Fadoi, the Federation of hospital internists awarded the great immunologist, Scientific Director of Humanitas, professor emeritus of Humanitas University and President of the “Humanitas Foundation for Research”, the “Internal Medicine Research Award 2023”.

“Our body’s first line of defense is what we call innate immunity, which faces the majority of encounters with malicious pathogens and which is made up of cells specialized in devouring aggressors and equipped with antennas capable of neutralizing them. Research has focused on this first line of defense. Alongside these cells, explained Professor Mantovani, there are also primitive antibodies. Molecules which, once produced against a pathogen, play a leading role in fighting infections, recognizing the intruder, signaling him and hindering his action. Furthermore, the first line of defense coordinates tissue repair. After great traumas, or as we have also learned with the severe forms of Covid-19, the war that the immune system unleashes against viruses, fungi and bacteria, like any conflict, leaves behind a lot of damage”.

But what is the potential of these discoveries from the point of view of doctors and patients? “Already today innate immunity molecules are used in clinics as diagnostic and prognostic indicators of inflammation. Their level in the blood makes it possible, for example, to measure the inflammatory state and to predict the evolution of the disease. But – he added – they will also be used to obtain more effective vaccines, because the activity of innate immunity, set in motion for example by nanoparticles that carry spikes, is essential for starting the production of antibodies against the spike itself.

Some of these molecules are being tested to fight certain types of cancer. In a cancer patient we have a first line of our immune defense that behaves a bit as if it were made up of corrupt guardians. Let’s say that the molecules of innate immunity aim to re-educate them to do their duty. But there are also other very active research fields. For example the research I was part of to identify the ways of communicating of the immune system which is based on dialogue. By studying cytokines, i.e. the ‘molecular words’ of the immune system, we can block the wrong ones and control autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis”.

Commenting then on the proclamation of the end of the pandemic emergency by the WHO emergency committee, the Professor remarked that on the one hand “they are especially concerned about Long Covid, which represents a challenge for patients and for the health system called to provide assistance, but also for the one and a half million mammograms not performed, as was the case for many other cancer screenings and more, which risk having a serious impact in the future. Just as the worsening of lifestyles does not bode well, given that Italy is among the three worst countries in Europe for the number of obese or overweight children and the same is true for the percentage of those who exercise. In fatty tissues there are not only fat cells but also those of our immune system which are completely disoriented in excess fat and contribute to the risk of developing cancer and cardiovascular disease”.

But on the other hand there is also a positive legacy of Covid. “That he has at least three aspects”, Mantovani points out. The first is the push towards collaboration of the scientific community, which has never been so open and collaborative, as happened in a study involving 3,600 researchers from different countries and institutes. The often spirit of collaboration has broken down old fences in hospitals, encouraging teamwork between doctors and healthcare professionals. The second aspect is the impetus given to research that has managed to achieve in one year things that were previously done in 10-12, as demonstrated by the anti-Covid vaccines. The third aspect is the messenger RNA technology which has proved to be powerful and flexible. Opening up the possibility of overcoming challenges, such as those in the fight against some cancers, in which we had failed until yesterday”.

08 maggio 2023
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