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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. The award was shared by Britain's Sir Peter Ratcliffe and two Americans, William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza.
The trio - British Sir Peter Ratcliffe and two Americans, William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza - discovered how cells adapt when oxygen levels drop. Their findings affect our day-to-day life from exercise, to being at high altitudes to our early development in the womb.
The Swedish Academy said their "elegant" findings were leading to treatments for anaemia and even cancer. Their work is leading to new 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." The Swedish Academy 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. Sir Peter Ratcliffe is based at the Francis Crick Institute and the University of Oxford in the UK, William Kaelin at Harvard in the US and Gregg Semenza at Johns Hopkins University in the US.
OxygenOxygen
Oxygen levels vary in different parts of the body, such as during exercise or at high altitude or after a cut or wound. Oxygen is in every breath we take, our bodies are completely dependent on it for converting food into usable energy.
When oxygen levels drop cells are forced to rapidly adapt their metabolism. But oxygen levels vary in the body, particularly during exercise or at high altitude, or after a cut or wound disrupts the blood supply.
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.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.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.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. In cancer, tumours can hijack 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.Telling the body to make more red blood cells could also be an effective treatment for anaemia.
How the body senses oxygen?
The story of how our bodies respond to oxygen levels was worked out back to front.
It was shown that a hormone, called erythropoietin or EPO - went up as oxygen levels went down, but why?
Piece-by-piece, the trio solved the puzzle.
First they showed that a cluster of proteins called hypoxia-inducible factor - or HIF - was able to bind to DNA (our genetic code) and change how it behaves. This is how levels of the hormone EPO increase in low oxygen.
Further work showed HIF is constantly being made by cells, but it is constantly destroyed when oxygen levels are normal.
The agent of destruction is another protein called VHL, but where does oxygen come into this?
The last breakthrough showed showed HIF and VHL could chemically react only when there was enough oxygen around.
So to tell the story in the correct order: when oxygen levels fall, VHL can no longer stick to HIF, so HIF levels build up and it is able change the way our DNA works.
Previous winners
2018 - James P Allison and Tasuku Honjo for discovering how to fight cancer using the body's immune system
2017- Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young for unravelling how bodies keep a circadian rhythm or body clock
2016 - Yoshinori Ohsumi for discovering how cells remain healthy by recycling waste.
2015 - William C Campbell, Satoshi Ōmura and Youyou Tu for anti-parasite drug discoveries.
2014 - John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser for discovering the brain's navigating system.
2013 - James Rothman, Randy Schekman, and Thomas Sudhof for their discovery of how cells precisely transport material.
2012 - Two pioneers of stem cell research - John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka - were awarded the Nobel after changing adult cells into stem cells.
2011 - Bruce Beutler, Jules Hoffmann and Ralph Steinman shared the prize after revolutionising the understanding of how the body fights infection.
2010 - Robert Edwards for devising the fertility treatment IVF which led to the first "test tube baby" in July 1978.
2009 - Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider and Jack Szostak for finding the telomeres at the ends of chromosomes.