The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was awarded Monday to three physician-scientists from the United States and Britain - William G. Kaelin Jr., Peter J. Ratcliffe and Gregg L. Semenza - "for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability. "The discoveries by the trio illuminated what the Nobel Committee called "one of life's most essential adaptive processes," answering profound questions about how the body works and providing potential new therapeutic avenues to treat cancer and other diseases. The three scientists, working independently, revealed the cascade of molecular events that allow cells to detect and respond to different levels of oxygen. That allows the human body to adapt to thinner air at high altitude by generating more red blood cells to carry oxygen. But it can also go awry in disease, providing new targets for treatment: Cancer cells exploit these molecular switches to thrive, for example, and i
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