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How cells sense oxygen wins Nobel prize | How cells sense oxygen wins Nobel prize |
(32 minutes later) | |
Three scientists who discovered how cells sense and adapt to oxygen levels have won the 2019 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. | Three scientists who discovered how cells sense and adapt to oxygen levels have won the 2019 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine. |
Our body's cells use oxygen to convert food into usable energy. | Our body's cells use oxygen to convert food into usable energy. |
The trio - British Sir Peter Ratcliffe and two Americans, William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza - discovered how cells adapt when oxygen levels drop. | |
The Swedish Academy said their "elegant" findings were leading to treatments for anaemia and even cancer. | The Swedish Academy said their "elegant" findings were leading to treatments for anaemia and even cancer. |
It said: "The fundamental importance of oxygen has been understood for centuries, but how cells adapt to changes in levels of oxygen has long been unknown." | It said: "The fundamental importance of oxygen has been understood for centuries, but how cells adapt to changes in levels of oxygen has long been unknown." |
Sir Peter Ratcliffe is based at the Francis Crick Institute in the UK, William Kaelin at Harvard in the US and Gregg Semenza at Johns Hopkins University in the US. | |
Oxygen | |
Oxygen levels vary in different parts of the body, such as during exercise or at high altitude or after a cut or wound. | |
When oxygen levels drop cells are forced to rapidly adapt their metabolism. | |
The oxygen-sensing ability of the body can trigger the production of new red blood cells or the construction of new blood vessels. | |
It also has a role in the immune system and the earliest stages of our development inside the womb. | |
Understanding the role of the body's oxygen-sensing abilities is leading to ideas for new treatments. | |
In cancer, tumours can hi-jack the process to create new blood vessels and make it easier for the cancer to grow. | |
Telling the body to make more red blood cells could also be an effective treatment for anaemia. |