What growth factor was central to Rita Levi-Montalcini’s 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine?

Nerve growth factor was central to Rita Levi-Montalcini’s 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Levi-Montalcini shared the prize with Stanley Cohen for discoveries of growth factors. Her work identified nerve growth factor, a protein that supports the survival, development, and maintenance of particular neurons. Cohen discovered epidermal growth factor, another signaling protein with important effects on cells.

The research began with experiments on embryonic tissues and tumors. Levi-Montalcini observed that a mouse tumor could stimulate nerve fibers to grow toward it, leading to the search for a soluble substance responsible for that effect. Subsequent biochemical work established NGF as a distinct growth factor.

Growth factors are not the same as hormones, although both can act as chemical signals. NGF belongs to a family of neurotrophins and has roles in the nervous and immune systems. The Nobel recognition helped establish growth-factor signaling as a major field of biology.