Ralph Steinman: Dedicating his life to dendritic cells

“I am sure he would have hung on for a little while if he had known,” says his daughter Alexis Steinman. This was on the third day of the Nobel week for the Steinman family and they had now become accustomed to giving interviews about Ralph Steinman. Alexis leant back in her chair, smiled and talked about her father as if he might walk right through the door the very next moment.

“We all still feel his presence; that he is still with us. It means a lot that he got to keep the prize although the rules normally do not allow posthumous prizes. It’s a legacy to him and his work and we will do our best to take good care of it.,” she says.

Science and family

Ralph Steinman was known as one of the leading scientists within the field of immunology. Alexis also describes him as a dedicated father who managed to combine research and family.

“He just did it simultaneously. If we went to the beach he would take a pile of scientific journals with him, read them and then throw them aside, go for a swim and get his nose stuck back in an article again right after that,” Alexis explains.

In his house the study where he did a considerable amount of work was right in the middle of everything – living room and toys for the grandchildren, who were one of his joys in the later part of his life. Apart from his biological family Ralph Steinman also embraced colleagues and friends with the same warmth.

“He would invite foreign students to our house on Thanksgiving, which is a typical family holiday. He just took care of everybody, as if they were family,” Alexis Steinman remembers.

Claudiacytes

When Ralph Steinman for the first time noticed these previously unknown cells he thought that they looked very much like his wife – an elegant body with long legs. He named them Claudiacytes, after her, before they were given their official name, dendritic cells.

“My mum meant so much to my dad. He was just infatuated with her and could not believe his luck that she chose him. They were married for 40 years and always had fun together – just recently they took classes in ballroom dancing. She was an enormous support to him,” Alexis Steinman states.

Naturally it is Ralph Steinman’s wife, Claudia, who will accept the Prize. “She is very nervous but it is the only right thing to do,” says her daughter Alexis.

Designing his own treatment

Four and a half years ago Ralph Steinman was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Usually patients do not survive much longer than half a year, but Ralph Steinman took a very rational approach and decided to tailor his own treatment with dendritic cells.

“When he told us that not only had he been diagnosed with cancer but that he would also treat it himself we never even questioned it. We knew if there was one person who knew what he was doing it would be him,” says Alexis.

He asked his close coworker and friend Sarah Schlesinger to help him design and administer his very own cancer vaccine.

She adds that Ralph Steinman was very frustrated with the classical way of treating cancer – radiation therapy and chemotherapy, which often has debilitating side effects – and he always believed that there must be a better way. He asked his close coworker and friend Sarah Schlesinger to help him design and administer his very own cancer vaccine.

“From that moment, his disease turned into a scientific experiment,” said Sarah Schlesinger in an interview with Swedish Television. She pointed out that not only did he live for four and half years after the diagnosis but that those were four and a half good years. “There were no tests available to show that his method was working, but he felt that it did,” confirms Alexis Steinman.

Passing on the knowledge

For Ralph Steinman, part of being a passionate scientist was to pass on his knowledge to the next generation. His adepts are spread all over the world and carry on the research that he founded. In that spirit the Steinman family will also use the Nobel Prize to pass on the legacy by setting up a foundation for young scientists.

Now we have the possibility to extend this foundation and will do so to carry on my father’s legacy.

“We already have a small family foundation, for example to help graduate students to travel to conferences and such. Now we have the possibility to extend this foundation and will do so to carry on my father’s legacy,” says Alexis Steinman.

She and the rest of the Steinman family are very fond of the fact that the Nobel week is used to raise awareness of the importance of science. “We thought it was just about collecting a prize but it is so much more. My father would have really liked that!” Alexis Steinman concludes.