The Nobel Prize in Medicine has just been awarded to William Kaelin of Harvard University, Peter Ratcliffe of Oxford University and Gregg Semenza of Johns Hopkins University for their work on cell adaptation to oxygen availability.
Medicine gets the ball rolling. Last year, the Nobel Prize was awarded to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo for their work on immunotherapy. This year, William G. Kaelin Jr, Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza were rewarded for their discoveries on the mechanisms of adaptation of tissues and organs to oxygen needs. For this "vintage" 2019, the Karolinska Institute still received 633 nominations!
To live, our cells need oxygen. However, this oxygen supply is never constant, for one reason or another – because you are exercising or because of certain illnesses. To understand how our cells react to these variations in oxygen supply, Gregg Semenza, from Johns Hopkins University, first looked at the erythropoietin (EPO) gene. This is a hormone that produces more red blood cells when oxygen levels are low.
This researcher has identified two proteins that appear to control how the gene works. He also discovered that one of them reacted to oxygen levels. Simply put, he found that this protein is present when oxygen levels are low, and disappears when oxygen levels are high.
William Kaelin of Harvard University and Peter Ratcliffe of Oxford University have identified another protein, called VHL. This would be responsible for the destruction of the first protein, described above – when oxygen levels are sufficient.
It should also be noted that while the initial work focused on a single gene, the researchers then succeeded in isolating at least 300 other genes regulated by the original protein identified by Semenza. It is the discovery of this incredible molecular process that has just been rewarded.
This work, in addition to the simple fact of better understanding the functioning of our cells, opens a new window of research for the treatment of a whole range of diseases, from from anemia to heart attack to cancer. All of the genes listed above being implicated in these disorders.
Nobel Prize week continues tomorrow with the presentation of the physics prize. This will be followed by the presentation of the Nobel Prize in Physics (Tuesday), Chemistry (Wednesday), Literature (Thursday). The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded on Friday, and the Economics Prize next Monday.
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