Marc Feldmann facts for kids

Sir Marc Feldmann (born 2 December 1944) is a famous immunologist, a scientist who studies the body's immune system. He is known for a major discovery that led to new treatments for painful diseases. He is a professor at the University of Oxford and a top researcher at Somerville College, Oxford.

Early Life and Education

Marc Feldmann was born in Lvov (now in Ukraine) on December 2, 1944. After World War II, his family moved to France. When he was eight years old, they moved again, this time to Australia.

In Australia, he went to the University of Melbourne and earned a medical degree in 1967. He then became interested in how the body's defense system works. He earned a Ph.D. in immunology in 1972 from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research.

In the 1970s, Feldmann moved to London to continue his research. In 1985, he began working at the Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology. This institute later became part of Imperial College London and then moved to the University of Oxford in 2011.

A Breakthrough in Medical Research

Feldmann's work focused on autoimmune diseases. These are conditions where the body's immune system, which should fight off germs, mistakenly attacks its own healthy tissues. This can cause pain and swelling.

Studying Rheumatoid Arthritis

Starting in 1984, Feldmann and his colleague, Sir Ravinder N. Maini, studied rheumatoid arthritis. This is an autoimmune disease that affects about 1 in 100 people, causing painful and swollen joints.

They wanted to understand what caused the inflammation. They looked at special proteins called cytokines, which act as messengers for the immune system. They discovered that the joints of people with rheumatoid arthritis had very high levels of these cytokines.

Finding the Main Culprit

A researcher in Feldmann's lab, Fionula Brennan, identified one specific cytokine as the main problem. It was called tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFα). They found that TNFα was like a "master switch" that turned on other harmful cytokines.

Feldmann and his team believed that if they could block TNFα, they could stop the inflammation. They tested this idea in the lab using models of arthritis. Their experiments showed that blocking TNFα did reduce the other harmful cytokines. This was a huge step forward.

Creating a New Treatment

Based on their research, the team decided to test their idea in people. In 1992, they ran the first clinical trial at a hospital in London. They gave a TNF-blocking antibody called infliximab to patients with severe rheumatoid arthritis who had not been helped by other treatments.

The results were amazing. The patients' pain and swelling went down dramatically. This success showed that blocking TNFα was an effective way to treat the disease.

The discovery led to the creation of a new class of drugs called anti-TNF drugs. These medicines have become a standard treatment for rheumatoid arthritis. They are also used to treat other autoimmune diseases like Crohn's disease, psoriasis, and ankylosing spondylitis.

Awards and Honors

For their groundbreaking work, Feldmann and Maini have received many of the world's top science awards. These include:

• The Crafoord Prize in 2000
• The Albert Lasker Award for Clinical Medical Research in 2003
• The Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research in 2008
• The Canada Gairdner International Award in 2014
• The Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science in 2020
• The Royal Medal in 2024

Feldmann is a Fellow of many important scientific groups, including the Royal Society in London and the National Academy of Sciences in the U.S. In 2010, he was knighted by the Queen for his services to medicine, earning him the title "Sir."