Three scientists share Nobel medicine prize

The trio receive the award for separate discoveries of viruses that cause Aids and cervical cancer.

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN // Three European scientists shared the 2008 Nobel Prize in medicine today for separate discoveries of viruses that cause Aids and cervical cancer, breakthroughs that helped doctors fight the deadly diseases. The French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier were cited for their discovery of human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV; while the German Harald zur Hausen was honoured for finding human papilloma viruses that cause cervical cancer, the second most common cancer among women.

The German medical doctor and scientist received half of the 10 million kronor (Dh5.1m) prize, while the two French researchers shared the other half. "I'm not prepared for this," Prof zur Hausen, 72, of the German Cancer Research Centre said. In its citation, the Nobel Assembly said Prof Barre-Sinoussi and Prof Montagnier's discovery was one prerequisite for understanding the biology of Aids and its treatment with antiviral drugs.

The pair's work in the early 1980s made it possible to study the virus closely. That in turn let scientists identify important details in how HIV replicates and how it interacts with the cells it infects, the citation said. It also led to ways to diagnose infected people and to screen blood for HIV, which has limited spread of the epidemic, and helped scientists develop anti-HIV drugs, the citation said.

"The combination of prevention and treatment has substantially decreased spread of the disease and dramatically increased life expectancy among treated patients," the citation said. The Nobel assembly said Prof zur Hausen "went against current dogma" when he found that some kinds of human papilloma virus, or HPV, caused cervical cancer. He realised that DNA of HPV could be detected in tumours, and uncovered a family of HPV types, only some of which cause cancer.

The discovery led to an understanding of how HPV causes cancer and the development of vaccines against HPV infection, the citation said. Prof Barre-Sinoussi is director of the Regulation of Retroviral Infections Union at the Intsitut Pasteur in France, while Dr Montagnier is the director for the World Foundation for Aids Research in Prevention, also in the French capital. Last year's medicine award went to the US researchers Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies and the Briton Martin Evans for work that led to a powerful and widely used technique to manipulate genes in mice, which has helped scientists study heart disease, diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis and other diseases.

*AP