Otto Heinrich Warburg
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the biochemist and Nobel laureate. For the World Zionist Organization president, see Otto Warburg (botanist).
| Otto Heinrich Warburg | |
|---|---|
Otto Heinrich Warburg
| |
| Born | October 8, 1883 Freiburg, Baden, German Empire |
| Died | August 1, 1970 (aged 86) Berlin, West Germany |
| Nationality | German |
| Fields | Cell biology |
| Institutions | Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology |
| Alma mater | University of Berlin University of Heidelberg |
| Doctoral advisor | Emil Fischer Ludolf von Krehl |
| Known for | Pathogenesis of cancer Warburg effect |
| Notable awards | Iron Cross 1st class (1918) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1931) Pour le Mérite (Civil Class) (1952) Fellow of the Royal Society[1] |
Contents
Biography[edit]
Warburg's father, Emil Warburg, was a member of the illustrious Warburg family of Altona, and had converted to Christianity reportedly after a disagreement with his Conservative Jewish parents. Emil was also president of the Physikalische Reichsanstalt, Wirklicher Geheimer Oberregierungsrat (True Senior Privy Counselor). His mother was the daughter of a Protestant family of bankers and civil servants from Baden.Warburg studied chemistry under the great Emil Fischer, and earned his Doctor of Chemistry in Berlin in 1906. He then studied under Ludolf von Krehl, and earned the degree of Doctor of Medicine in Heidelberg in 1911.
Between 1908 and 1914, Warburg was affiliated with the Naples Marine Biological Station, in Naples, Italy, where he conducted research. In later years, he would return for visits, and maintained a lifelong friendship with the family of the station's director, Anton Dohrn.
A lifelong equestrian, he served as an officer in the elite Uhlans (cavalry) on the front during the First World War, where he won the Iron Cross. Warburg later credited this experience with affording him invaluable insights into "real life" outside the confines of academia. Towards the end of the war, when the outcome was unmistakable, Albert Einstein, who had been a friend of Warburg's father Emil, wrote Warburg at the behest of friends, asking him to leave the army and return to academia, since it would be a tragedy for the world to lose his talents. Einstein and Warburg later became friends, and Einstein's work in physics had great influence on Otto's biochemical research.[citation needed]
Scientific work and Nobel Prize[edit]
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In 1918, Warburg was appointed professor at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Biology in Berlin-Dahlem (part of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft). By 1931 he was named director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Cell Physiology, which was founded the previous year by a donation of the Rockefeller Foundation to the Kaiser Wilhelm Gesellschaft (since renamed the Max Planck Society).
Warburg investigated the metabolism of tumors and the respiration of cells, particularly cancer cells, and in 1931 was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology for his "discovery of the nature and mode of action of the respiratory enzyme."[2] The award came after receiving 46 nominations over a period of nine years beginning in 1923, 13 of which were submitted in 1931, the year he won the prize.[3]
Survival under the Nazis[edit]
When the Nazis came to power people of Jewish descent were forced from their professional positions. For some reason despite having a Jewish father Warburg was spared. By this time Warburg was studying cancer. While banned from teaching he was allowed to carry on his research.[4] In 1935, Hitler had a polyp removed from his vocal cords. It is believed that afterwards, he feared that could develop cancer, which may have allowed Warburg to survive. In 1941, Warburg lost his post briefly, when he made critical remarks about the regime but a few weeks later a personal order from Hitler's Chancellery ordered him to resume work on his cancer research. Goring also arranged for him to be classified as one-quarter Jewish.[4] It is believed that Warburg was so totally dedicated to his work that he was prepared to not only stay in Germany but also accept the Nazi treatment of his Jewish colleagues and his Jewish relatives.[5] This was despite him having received an offer from the Rockefeller Foundation to continue to fund his work if he emigrated. After the end of the Second World War he made inquires about moving the United States of America, but his approach was turned down. In 1943 Warburg relocated his laboratory to the village of Liebenburg on the outskirts of Berlin to avoid ongoing air attacks.Nomination for a second Nobel Prize[edit]
In 1944, Warburg was nominated for a second Nobel Prize in Physiology by Albert Szent-Györgyi, for his work on nicotinamide, the mechanism and enzymes involved in fermentation, and the discovery of flavin (in yellow enzymes).[6][7] Some sources reported he was selected to receive the award that year, but was prevented from receiving it by Adolf Hitler’s regime, which had issued a decree in 1937 that forbade Germans from accepting Nobel Prizes.[8][9] According to the Nobel Foundation, this rumor is not true; although he was considered a worthwhile candidate, he was not selected for the prize.[6]Three scientists who worked in Warburg's lab, including Sir Hans Adolf Krebs, went on to win the Nobel Prize. Among other discoveries, Krebs is credited with the identification of the citric acid cycle (or Szentgyörgyi-Krebs cycle).
Warburg’s combined work in plant physiology, cell metabolism and oncology made him an integral figure in the later development of systems biology.[10] He worked with Dean Burk in photosynthesis to discover the I-quantum reaction that splits the CO2, activated by the respiration.[11]
Cancer hypothesis[edit]
Main article: Warburg hypothesis
 | This article needs attention from an expert in Chemistry. (May 2010) |
Cancer, above all other diseases, has countless secondary causes. But, even for cancer, there is only one prime cause. Summarized in a few words, the prime cause of cancer is the replacement of the respiration of oxygen in normal body cells by a fermentation of sugar.Warburg continued to develop the hypothesis experimentally, and held several prominent lectures outlining the theory and the data.[13]
—Otto H. Warburg, [12]
The concept that cancer cells switch to fermentation in lieu of aerobic respiration has become widely accepted, even if it is not seen as the cause of cancer. Some suggest the Warburg phenomenon could be used to develop anticancer drugs.[14] Meanwhile, cancer cell glycolysis is the basis of positron emission tomography (18-FDG PET), a medical imaging technology that relies on this phenomenon.[14][15]
Later years[edit]
Warburg also wrote about oxygen's relationship to the pH of cancer cells' internal environments. Since fermentation was a major metabolic pathway of cancer cells, Warburg reported cancer cells maintain a lower pH, as low as 6.0, due to lactic acid production and elevated CO2. He firmly believed there was a direct relationship between pH and oxygen.
When frustrated by the lack of acceptance of his ideas, Warburg was known to quote an aphorism he attributed to Max Planck: Science progresses not because scientists change their minds, but rather because scientists attached to erroneous views die, and are replaced.[16]
Seemingly utterly convinced of the accuracy of his conclusions, Warburg expressed dismay at the "continual discovery of cancer agents and cancer viruses" which he expected to "hinder necessary preventative measures and thereby become responsible for cancer cases".[13]
In his later years, Warburg was convinced that illness resulted from pollution; this caused him to become a bit of a health advocate. He insisted on eating bread made from wheat grown organically on land that belonged to him. When he visited restaurants, he often made arrangements to pay the full price for a cup of tea, but to only be served boiling water, from which he would make tea with a tea bag he had brought with him. He was also known to go to significant lengths to obtain organic butter, the quality of which he trusted.[citation needed]
When Dr. Josef Issels, an intrepid doctor who became famous for his use of nonmainstream therapies to treat cancer, was arrested and later found guilty of malpractice in what Issels alleged was a highly politicized case, Warburg offered to testify on Issels' behalf at his appeal to the German Supreme Court. All of Issels' convictions were overturned.[17]
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