The Nobel Prize in Physiology 1977: A literature review of the Radioimmunoassay Technique

Abstract

The first study about radioimmunoassay was published in 1960 by 2 scientists, who created this new method to quantify human insulin, at a time when studies on diabetes and its pathophysiology were beginning to stand out. Years later, due to its strong relevance to the scientific world, such work was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology in 1977. Thus, the present study aims to expose the historical context of the discovery, the initial studies on diseases whose immunological origin was still unknown, the beginning of radioimmunoassay techniques and their potential benefits and effects for science. Therefore, a narrative review of the literature was carried out using the PubMed, Scielo and Google Scholar databases in order to find the theoretical bases that underlie the objective of the present study. The study revealed that through the use of radioisotopes for insulin labeling and the use of antibodies from animals, it was possible to quantify hormones at low blood concentrations, based on the graphic of the proportion between free marked insulin and insulin combined with antibodies. Such discovery was important to understand the pathophysiology of many diseases, although on the other hand it presents its risks because it involves radioactive material and because it is now in disuse due to the creation of methods such as ELISA. It is concluded that due to the historical and scientific importance of the RIA, this method proved to be worthy of the most renowned scientific award in the world.