Passing of Jacques Van Snick (1951-2026)

Professor Jacques Van Snick was born in Brussels in 1951. Even while studying medicine at UCL in Leuven, he developed a passion for research under the guidance of Professor Joseph Heremans, the inventor of the term “immunoglobulins” and the discoverer of IgA. Before even graduating (summa cum laude), he already had several scientific publications to his credit.

His early work at the Institute of Cellular and Molecular Pathology (ICP, since renamed the Duve Institute) took place in the Laboratory of Experimental Medicine (MEXP), which Professor Pierre Masson had taken over as director following the passing of Joseph Heremans. From 1975 to 1986, funded by the National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS), Jacques Van Snick gradually assembled his own team, consisting of Pierre Coulie and Jean-Paul Coutelier, who were later joined by Jean-Christophe Renauld, Frédéric Houssiau, and Catherine Uyttenhove.

During the 1980s, Jacques Van Snick and his colleagues made seminal contributions to three main areas of research. The first led to the discovery of the mechanism by which anti-IgG antibodies – known as rheumatoid factors – are induced and their role in the elimination of immune complexes; these findings were the subject of his habilitation thesis (thèse d’agrégation), which he defended in 1982.

The second area of research focused on cytokines. J. Van Snick was the first to describe a B-cell growth factor, which would come to be known as interleukin-6 and is now recognized as a multifunctional protein involved in numerous inflammatory processes, with current therapeutic applications such as the antibody tocilizumab, which blocks the IL-6 receptor. A few years later, he identified another growth factor for certain populations of T lymphocytes: interleukin-9.

The third area of focus concerned tumor antigens, where he contributed his immunological expertise and knowledge of in vitro lymphocyte culture to the pioneering cancer immunotherapy projects led by Thierry Boon, director of the Brussels branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research. This led Jacques Van Snick to join this renowned institute in 1986.

In all his research projects, Jacques Van Snick proved to be an innovative and pioneering experimenter: he conducted the first lymphocyte cultures and produced the first monoclonal antibodies in Belgium, while consistently embracing new technological approaches. His universally recognized qualities naturally led to his election as president of the Belgian Immunology Society in 1988.

In 1991, J. Van Snick was struck by a car while practicing the sport he loved so much and at which he excelled: cycling. As a result of this trauma, he had to give up his teaching duties in immunology and all academic activities at UCLouvain, which he left as a professor emeritus in 1996, while continuing his research at the de Duve Institute.

Jacques Van Snick has published more than 200 scientific articles, the most recent of which focus on the induction of autoantibodies that inhibit the inflammatory activity of cytokines involved in diseases with an autoimmune or allergic pathogenesis. His work has been recognized with numerous scientific awards, including the Semper Prize in 1983, the Medisearch Prize in 1988, the Maggy and Robert de Hovre Prize in 1988, the CGER Cancer Foundation Prize in 1990, and the prize commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium in 1991; and, above all, the prestigious International Interbrew-Baillet Latour Prize, which Jacques Van Snick received from Princess Mathilde on June 30, 2000.

Those who had the good fortune to work with Jacques Van Snick will always remember his truly remarkable personality: an inspired and tireless worker, generous with his time to anyone who needed his help, advice, or expertise, Jacques also had a knack for creating a warm, humorous atmosphere around him, which made it easier to cope with his high standards for both the quality and quantity of the very specific work demanded of a researcher.

We extend our most sincere condolences to his loved ones and family, especially his daughters Sylvie and Isabelle.