Researchers who uncovered cause of narcolepsy honored
Two researchers who did groundbreaking work on narcolepsy, the neurological disorder that triggers sudden sleep attacks, won a prestigious science award Wednesday.
Two scientists, Emmanuel Mignot from France and Masashi Yanagisawa from Japan, recently received the Albert Lasker Prize for their groundbreaking work on narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by sudden sleep attacks and loss of muscle tone. The researchers discovered that the cause of narcolepsy in humans is a missing brain chemical called orexin, also known as hypocretin.
They worked on different approaches but arrived at the same conclusion - a genetic missing chemical. The discovery revolutionized the field of sleep science and opened the way for treatment. Mignot spent a decade studying narcolepsy in dogs' genomes, then found the culprit gene. Yanagisawa initially thought orexin was involved in hunger, but later identified it as the neurotransmitter missing in narcolepsy.
Their complementary work pinpointed the underlying mechanism behind narcolepsy, finding that in both humans and mice, orexin is absent. This discovery had a significant impact on the medical world, as it opened up new ways of studying and treating sleep problems. A drug targeting orexin deficiency was approved in 2023, greatly improving patients' lives. However, many questions about sleep and narcolepsy remain unanswered.
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