A tribute to Professor Christian de Duve on his 90th birthday.

摘要

As its name implies, the Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine is an appropriate stage for a tribute to Professor C. de Duve on his 90th birthday. Indeed, the work of Christian de Duve led to an explosion in cell biology, with the discovery of lyso-somes and peroxisomes and of their function. From the deciphering of the physiopathology of lysosomes followed the first molecular explanation of an intracel-lular genetic disorder, Pompe's glycogenosis, the prototype of lysosomal storage diseases. In turn, this basic knowledge paved the way to rational molecular medicine, with the first effective cure of another inborn lysosomal disorder, Gaucher's disease, by replacement therapy with recombinant glucocere-brosidase, now a current practice. How did this story develop and what does the example of de Duve tell us?