Nobel Medicine Prize Winner Died Before Award

Oct. 3, 2011 -- Three scientists shared the Nobel Medicine Prize on Monday for their ground-breaking work on the immune system which the jury said opened up new prospects for curing cancer and other diseases.

The laureates include Bruce Beutler of the United States, Jules Hoffmann of Luxembourg and Ralph Steinman of Canada. Steinman actually died on Sept. 30 of pancreatic cancer, according to Rockefeller University in New York.

This is the first Nobel Prize to be awarded posthumously, though it was not intentional. The Nobel Assembly didn't know Steinman was dead when it chose him as a winner. "The events that have occurred are unique and, to the best of our knowledge, are unprecedented in the history of the Nobel Prize," the Nobel Foundation said in a statement.

After consulting the regulations, the Foundation announced later on Monday that the decision of the Assembly would remain unchanged. "What has occurred is more reminiscent of the example in the statutes concerning a person who has been named as a Nobel Laureate and has died before the actual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony," they said. That rule they added stresses the point that the " Nobel Prize shall not deliberately be awarded posthumously."

"This year's Nobel laureates have revolutionized our understanding of the immune system by discovering key principles for its activation," the jury said in a statement.

The three were lauded for their work on immunology -- the body's complex defense system in which signaling molecules unleash antibodies and killer cells in response to invading germs and viruses.

Understanding this is a key to new drugs and also to easing immune disorders, such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease.

"Their work has opened up new avenues for the development of prevention and therapy against infections, cancer and inflammatory diseases," the jury said.

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Beutler and Hoffmann, who shared one half of the 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.48 million, 1.08 million euros) prize, discovered receptor proteins that activate the first step in the body's immune response system.

Steinman, who won the other half, discovered the dendritic cells, allowing the immune system to identify and attack the harmful micro-organisms while staying clear of the body's own endogenous molecules.

They will receive their prize at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of prize founder Alfred Nobel's death in 1896.

--by AFP

IMAGES: nobelprize.org