French and German Researchers 2008 Nobel Laureates in Medicine or Physiology. (October 7, 2008)

Two French researchers who discovered the human immunodeficiency virus, HIV, and the German scientist who demonstrated that human papilloma virus is the cause of cervical cancer have received the 2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Luc Montagnier and Francoise Barré-Sinoussi, who did their research at the Pasteur Institute, received one-half of A$1.96 million while Dr. Harold zur Hausen, who fought a long battle against the prevailing wisdom that the herpes simplex virus caused cervical cancer, received the other half.

As Alison Abbott reports in NatureNews: "[Beginning in the early 1970's] in a series of elegant experiments over the next decade — during which he moved between universities in Germany, settling in 1977 at the University of Freiburg — zur Hausen identified many different types of HPV, which he linked to different diseases. In 1983 he described HPV-16, which occurs in more than half of all human cervical cancers as well as other anogenital cancers. A year later came HPV-18, which accounts for a further 25% of cases."

The thumbnail biographies of the winners supplied by the Nobel committee:

Harald zur Hausen, born 1936 in Germany, German citizen, MD at University of Düsseldorf, Germany. Professor emeritus and former Chairman and Scientific Director, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, born 1947 in France, French citizen, PhD in virology, Institut Pasteur, Garches, France. Professor and Director, Regulation of Retroviral Infections Unit, Virology Department, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.

Luc Montagnier, born 1932 in France, French citizen, PhD in virology, University of Paris, Paris, France. Professor emeritus and Director, World Foundation for AIDS Research and Prevention, Paris, France.

The 26-page announcement from the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute details its assessment of the timeline of discovery of HIV as the agent responsible for AIDS, placing Robert Gallo and his group's work in a subsidiary role.

Added October 8, 2008: Science reports --

But Montagnier's lab did not prove that their virus caused AIDS. That evidence first came 1 year later from Gallo and co-workers, who published four papers in Science that persuasively tied similar viruses they had found to the disease. Gallo says all three recipients of the prize deserved it, and he's happy to see that the Nobel Assembly at long last gave an award to the HIV/AIDS field. But he acknowledged that he was "disappointed" to be left out. "Yes, I'm a little down about it, but not terribly," Gallo told Science. "The only thing I worry about is that it may give people the notion that I might have done something wrong."

"I'm very sorry for Robert Gallo," Montagnier told Science today from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, where he is attending an HIV meeting. Montagnier says he was "surprised" as well: "It was important to prove that HIV was the cause of AIDS, and Gallo had a very important role in that."