Legends of allergy and immunology: Alain L. de Weck (1928‐2013)
Authors: Johannes Ring
Journal: Allergy (2020)

Alain de Weck was born on 26 July 1928 in Montreux (Switzerland). He pursued his medical studies in Fribourg (Switzerland), Lausanne (Switzerland), Paris (France) and Geneva (Switzerland). He completed his residency in Dermatology at the University of Geneva from 1953 to 1958 and then undertook his postdoctoral research in the Division of Dermatology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, USA, under Prof. Herman Eisen (1958-1960). From 1961 to 1971, he was head of the Allergy Research Unit in the Department of Dermatology at the University of Bern (Switzerland). From 1971 to 1993, he was chairman and director of the newly founded Institute of Clinical Immunology at the University of Bern. Later on, he became Extraordinary Professor at the University of Navarra, Pamplona (Spain) and President of the Gerimmune Foundation Research Laboratory in Fribourg (Switzerland). This great Legend sadly passed away in 2013 at the age of 85. Alain de Weck became interested in immunology at a time before this discipline was truly established and when the key focus of research interest was typically on biochemistry and proteins. His main research interest lay in the induction and elicitation of allergic reactions, especially to penicillins.1 There he discovered that bivalent or multivalent bridging of the IgE molecules on the surface of mast cells and basophils is a necessary requisite to trigger mast cell activation and inflammatory mediator release. Monovalent binding with a small molecule like penicillin failed to induce an allergic reaction, instead inducing tolerance. The principle of “hapten inhibition” was a major breakthrough in understanding allergic reactions. Upon returning from the USA, he collaborated with the chemist Prof. C. Schneider and developed skin-test reagents for penicillin allergy by coupling the monovalent penicilloyl group to a chain of several amino acids, namely polylysine.2 This was the first routinely used successful skin test for drug allergy. As director of the newly founded Institute for Immunology, he directed his research towards cellular immunity and was very active in the field of lymphokines (now cytokines and interleukins). Together with Johann Rudolf Frey in Basel, he advanced the understanding of allergic contact dermatitis. Influenced by the Nobel Laureate Niels Jerne, Alain de Weck studied the role of anti-idiotype antibodies in immune regulation and allergic reactivity. He was also interested in the development of antibodies to IgE molecules, and in his institute, he focused on the role of auto–anti-IgE in a broad range of allergic reactions. These studies paved the way to the later appearance of monoclonal antibodies against IgE that are currently used for the treatment of severe asthma and chronic spontaneous urticaria. He subsequently developed an interest in veterinary allergy, conducting studies in allergic dogs and horses, that led to a dog allergy model to investigate the pathophysiology of allergy and allergy genetics as well as early allergy prevention by inducing oral tolerance. Prof. Alain de Weck Under his leadership, his small institute became a focus and sentinel site for allergy research worldwide. When he retired, the work was continued by his three disciples Werner Pichler, Clemens Dahinden and Beda Stadler. Unfortunately, today this institute no longer exists as it was. Alain de Weck was a genius in many areas, not only in allergy and immunology. He spoke at least three languages fluently and some others well. He was a master at expressing complex issues into simple and brilliant language. He often had sharp and critical ideas with a very good sense of humour and self-awareness. At the same time, he liked to give advice to young researchers, today one would call this mentoring. The author is proud to call Alain de Weck his mentor in allergy and immunology although he never officially worked with him. Maybe he would have, if Alain de Weck had moved to Munich when he was approached to be director of the Institute for Immunology of Ludwig-Maximilians University in 1975. As chairman of a WHO task force on immunological methods, he also initiated the current committee on the standardisation of allergens. He was president of the International Association of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (IAACI), now the World Allergy Organisation (WAO) from 1985 to 1988, and of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) from 1983 to 1986. This joint position is unique, and in those days, allergy and immunology were probably cooperating at their best level in their history. Alain de Weck also was “spiritus motor” long-time secretary, honorary secretary and finally president of the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum (CIA), a prestigious and selective community of 200 dedicated allergy scientists worldwide. During many years, Alain was a member or chairman of expert advisory groups for the German government with regard to allergy research. Among many others, he received honorary membership from the German Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology (DGAI) in 1988. As one out of 20 foreign nationals at the time, he was elected to the French National Academy of Medicine. He was also the founder of the European Network of Drug Allergy “ENDA,” a major active group in the field. In 1972, he was awarded the Robert Koch Award in Germany and, in 1990, the Clemens von Pirquet Medal of the Austrian Society for Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Alain de Weck liked to think beyond the frontiers of immunology, allergy or natural science. His personal views can be read in his autobiography “Memories: Failures and Dreams,”3 where he not only describes the history of allergy and immunology during his lifetime but also gives illustrative examples of daily life in the thirties when tuberculosis was still a major problem before the discovery of streptomycin. He also wrote about the quarrels and little fights among national and international academic societies which are best taken with a good sense of humour. Alain de Weck was married three times and left four children. His second wife Christine was well known in the allergy community for her invaluable assistance in organising the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum and always taking care of the scientists' partners, in those days mostly wives. Christine's death was a shock for Alain from which he only slowly recovered, probably best by editing Christine's last book.4 With his third wife Brigitte, he was happy to spend wonderful years between Switzerland and Tenerife (Spain). People who knew Alain de Weck still have him clearly in mind with his sharp, always honest, self-critical and generous spirit open for everything interesting in life. Open access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL. The author declares that he has no conflicts of interest.