Three Scientists Win Nobel Prize for Immune System Discoveries
American biologist Bruce A. Beutler shared the 2011 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine with Jules A. Hoffman of Luxembourg and Canadian-born scientist Ralph M. Steinman for their research on the immune system. Working individually, the three scientists made key discoveries that answered fundamental questions about how the body defends itself against infection. The discoveries paved the way for research that resulted in the development of new treatments for infections, cancer, and inflammatory diseases.
Beutler, a scientist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California, shared one-half of the prize with Hoffman of the National Center of Scientific Research in Strasbourg, France. The two scientists made key discoveries on how the immune system first recognizes such infectious microbes as viruses and bacteria and activates the body’s defenses against them.
Steinman was awarded the other half of the prize for his discovery of dendritic cells, a type of white blood cell that helps adapt the immune system to react to different infectious agents. The fundamental research by these three scientists has led to the development of vaccines and drugs that treat disease by boosting the body’s natural defense systems.
The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, which awards the prize for physiology or medicine, announced the prize on Oct. 3, 2011. At that time, the Assembly was unaware that Steinman had died on September 30. The Nobel Assembly has a long-established policy of not awarding prizes posthumously (after death). However, in this case, the Nobel Assembly issued a statement that the prize would be awarded to Steinman, since he had been alive when the Assembly had chosen to honor him.
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