Michael S. BrownBorn 13 Apr 1941.Michael Stuart Brown is an American molecular geneticist who, with Joseph L. Goldstein, was awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for their elucidation of a key link in the metabolism of cholesterol in the human body. They compared cells of normal persons with those of persons having familial hypercholesterolemia, (who inherit a tendency to abnormally high blood cholesterol levels and circulatory ailments). They traced a genetic defect that resulted in their being deficient in cell receptors for LDL (low-density lipoproteins - the primary cholesterol carrying particles). These cell receptors draw the LDL particles into the cells as a prelude to breaking them down, and thus remove them from the bloodstream. |
