William G. Kaelin, MD, of Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, Gregg L. Semenza, MD, PhD, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe, FMedSci, of Oxford University in the United Kingdom have been awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

These mechanisms of cell adaptation to the presence or lack of Oxygen may also have important implications in the tumour field. For example, alterations in the vascularity of a solid tumor could damage part of the cells to the point of death, but also stimulate the survivors to grow adapting to the new deficiency condition. As always happens, there are systems of counterweights and counter-reactions constantly in action in the living, new balances are formed. Finding ways to intervene with drugs and substances to achieve a therapeutic aim remains a challenge.