The tumour suppressor protein VHL targets hypoxia-inducible factors for oxygen-dependent proteolysis.

The focus of both Peter Ratcliffe’s and William Kaelin’s work, for which they shared the Nobel Prize with Gregg Semenza, was the relationship between pVHL and HIF. This led to an increased understanding of how cells sense and adapt to changing oxygen levels.  Order of authorship in the original publication: Maxwell,...Pugh, Maher, Ratcliffe.

In 2019 Ratcliffe shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with William Kaelin, Jr. and Gregg Semenza "“for their discoveries of how cells sense and adapt to oxygen availability.”