Immune specialists share Nobel Prize

Three scientists whose research on the immune system opened up new avenues for prevention and treatment of infections, cancer and inflammations have won the Nobel Prize for medicine.

American Bruce Beutler and French scientist Jules Hoffmann shared the €1.1m award with Canadian-born Ralph Steinman, the Nobel committee at Stockholm Karolinska institute said.

Beutler and Hoffmann were cited “for their discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity.”

Steinman was honoured for “his discovery of the dendritic cell and its role in adaptive immunity.”

“Their work has opened up new avenues for the development of prevention and therapy against infections, cancer and inflammatory disease,” the citation said.

The medicine announcement will be followed in the coming days by announcements for prizes in chemistry, physics, literature, peace and economics.

Beutler and Hoffman discovered receptor proteins that can recognise bacteria and other micro-organisms as they enter the body, and activate the first line of defence in the immune system.

Steinman discovered dendritic cells in the immune system, which help regulate the next stage of the immune system’s response, when the invading micro-organisms are purged from the body.

The trio’s discoveries have enabled the development of new methods for treating and preventing diseases, including improved vaccines and in attempts to help the immune system to attack tumours, the committee said.

The prizes were established by Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel – the inventor of dynamite – except for the economics award, which was created by Sweden’s central bank in 1968 in Nobel’s memory. The prizes are always handed out on December 10, on the anniversary of Nobel’s death in 1896.

Last year’s medicine award went to British professor Robert Edwards for fertility research that led to the first test tube baby.