2020 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine Awarded Jointly to Three Scientists for Discovery of Hepatitis C Virus

On October 5, 2020, it was announced that this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to three scientists who have made a decisive contribution to the fight against blood-borne hepatitis, a major global health problem that causes cirrhosis and liver cancer in people around the world. Harvey J. Alter, MD, Michael Houghton, PhD, and Charles M. Rice, PhD, made seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, Hepatitis C. Prior to their work, the discovery of the Hepatitis A and B viruses had been critical steps forward, but the majority of blood-borne hepatitis cases remained unexplained. The discovery of Hepatitis C virus revealed the cause of the remaining cases of chronic hepatitis and made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives. Liver inflammation, or hepatitis, a combination of the Greek words for liver and inflammation, is mainly caused by viral infections, although alcohol abuse, environmental toxins, and autoimmune disease are also important causes. In the 1940’s, it became clear that there are two main types of infectious hepatitis. The first, named hepatitis A, is transmitted by polluted water or food and generally has little long-term impact on the patient. The second type is transmitted through blood and bodily fluids and represents a much more serious threat because it can lead to a chronic condition, with the development of cirrhosis and liver cancer. This form of hepatitis is insidious, as otherwise healthy individuals can be silently infected for many years before serious complications arise. Blood-borne hepatitis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, and causes more than a million deaths per year world-wide, thus making it a global health concern on a scale comparable to HIV-infection and tuberculosis.