STOCKHOLM — Two American researchers won the Nobel Prize in
chemistry Wednesday for studies of protein receptors that let
body cells sense and respond to outside signals like danger or
the flavor of food. Such studies are key for developing better
drugs. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Robert
Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka had made groundbreaking discoveries,
mainly in the 1980s, on an important family of receptors, known
as G-protein-coupled receptors. About half of all medications
act on these receptors, including beta blockers and
antihistamines, so learning about them will help scientists to
come up with better drugs. The human body has about 1,000 kinds
of such receptors, structures on the surface of cells, which let
the body respond to a wide variety of chemical signals, like
adrenaline. Some receptors are in the nose, tongue and eyes, and
let us sense smells, tastes and light. "They work as a gateway
to the cell," Lefkowitz told a news conference in Stockholm by
phone. "As a result they are cru