The Nobel Prize for Medicine was awarded jointly Monday to the Americans William Kaelin and Gregg Semenza and the British Peter Ratcliffe for their research on the adaptation of cells to the variable oxygen supply, allowing to fight against cancer and anemia .
"The fundamental importance of oxygen has been known for centuries, but the process of adapting cells to changes in oxygen levels has long remained a mystery," said the Nobel Assembly of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. in his expected. "This year's Nobel Prize rewards work that has revealed the molecular mechanisms involved in adapting cells to the variable oxygen supply" in the body, she said.