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RefNoEC/1996/20
LevelItem
TitleMacIntyre, Iain Alexander: certificate of election to the Royal Society
Date1994
DescriptionCitation typed
CitationMacIntyre proved that calcitonin, the calcium-lowering hormone postulated by Copp in 1962 was in reality secreted by the parafollicular cells of the thyroid and not from the parathyroid as claimed. He isolated and sequenced the pig hormone (the first calcitonin characterised) as well as the human peptide. He showed that calcitonin inhibited bone resorption and that protection of the maternal skeleton during pregnancy and lactation may be its physiological role. He was the first to demonstrate that calcitonin rapidly relieves pain and produces healing in Paget's disease. Later, MacIntyre showed that calcitonin is as effective as oestradiol in arresting the post-menopausal bone loss which leads to osteoporosis. Calcitonin is now in widespread use worldwide for Paget's disease and in the prevention and treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis; it is the only safe therapy for the male form of the disease. With Howard Morris he was the first to isolate and charcterise the novel human neuropeptide, calcitonin gene-related peptide. Its effects include an extremely potent vasodilation which may be involved in the physiological regulation of blood flow. More recently, MacIntyre has shown that nitric oxide is a powerful inhibitor of bone resorption produced by the osteoclast itself and that nitric oxide normally exerts a tonic restraint of resorption. When nitric oxide synthase is inhibited, there is extensive bone loss. Studies with human cells suggest that these findings apply also to man, thus presenting new targets for therapy in bone disease but also implying that our present model of the regulation of bone cell function is incomplete and needs substantial revision.
AccessStatusClosed
Fellows associated with this archive
CodePersonNameDates
NA4563MacIntyre; Iain Alexander (1924 - 2009)1924 - 2009
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