From internists Fadoi prize for research to Alberto Mantovani

2023-05-08 14:19:25

“With studies on innate immunity and primitive antibodies, 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 motivations Francesco Dentali, president of Fadoi, the Federation of hospital internists awarded the ‘Internal Medicine Research Award 2023’ to the immunologist Alberto Mantovani, scientific director of Humanitas. The award will be presented today during the last day of the Fadoi congress in Milan.

“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 – Mantovani explained – 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, the molecules of innate immunity are used in clinics as diagnostic and prognostic indicators of inflammation. Their level in the blood allows, for example, to measure the inflammatory state and to predict the evolution of the disease. But – added the immunologist – 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.

“Part 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 immunity molecules have as their objective that of re-educating them to do their duty.But there are also other very active research fields – concludes Mantovani 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”.