Discoverer of cancer-causing human papillomavirus types

Harald zur Hausen

Postulated in the 1970s that human papillomavirus causes cervical cancer, searched tumour DNA for HPV for more than 10 years, and cloned HPV 16 and HPV 18 from cervical cancers in 1983 and 1984. Received half of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of human papilloma viruses causing cervical cancer.

Milestones

1983 HPV 16 and 18 found in cervical cancer (zur Hausen, 1983-1984)

Sources

Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet. The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2008: press release. 6 October 2008. NobelPrize.org.
Source
Dürst M, Gissmann L, Ikenberg H, zur Hausen H. A papillomavirus DNA from a cervical carcinoma and its prevalence in cancer biopsy samples from different geographic regions. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983;80(12):3812-5.
PubMed DOI
Boshart M, Gissmann L, Ikenberg H, Kleinheinz A, Scheurlen W, zur Hausen H. A new type of papillomavirus DNA, its presence in genital cancer biopsies and in cell lines derived from cervical cancer. EMBO J. 1984;3(5):1151-7.
PubMed DOI