Professor Dr Jules A. Hoffmann

Research Priorities: Immune system, innate immunity, receptor proteins, Toll-gene, Toll-like receptors, TLR
Jules Hoffmann is a French biologist. In 2011, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with Bruce Beutler and Ralph M. Steinmann. The three scientists researched how the body fends off bacteria and viruses, fungi, and parasites. Jules Hoffmann’s discoveries are based on his research into the immune system and the associated proteins in flies. Similar proteins in humans, the Toll-like receptors, play a role in differentiating between “self” and “non-self”. These discoveries have contributed substantially to understanding illnesses and have advanced the development of new therapies against infections and cancer.
All organisms have an innate immune system which protects them from microorganisms. Hoffmann and Beutler discovered receptor proteins which recognise bacteria and other microorganisms upon entry into the body and which activate the immune system. Dendritic cells, discovered by Steinman, become active on a further “defensive level”. These large cells track down intruders and activate the second defence system, the body’s innate immune response with the activation of T-cells and B-cells. Hoffmann and his numerous team members found out through experiments with the Drosophila fruit fly that a certain gene, the Toll-gene, is important for this task. He discovered that flies which had Toll-gene mutations died of bacterial or fungal infections, because their bodies were unable to trigger an effective immune response. After all, this is the gene that activates receptors which set the immune response system in motion. Thus, the Hoffmann laboratory demonstrated the importance of the Toll-gene for the immune system.
His research colleague, Bruce Beutler, found a similar receptor in mice (Toll-like receptor, TLR). He had thus discovered a new class of immune molecules and proven that the immune reaction is activated via the same mechanism in insects and mammals. The discoveries of the three immunologists have contributed substantially to understanding illnesses and have advanced the development of new therapies against infections, cancer, and inflammatory diseases.