Dr. Ralph Steinman, this year's winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine, passed away three days before the award was announced.

Stage-four pancreatic cancer was detected in his body system four-and-a-half years ago and, all means to cure the disease proved futile because it had already spread to his blood fluids that contained white cells or lymphocytes.

This is the same disease that took the life of the famous Steve Jobs who died two days ago.

Ironically, the man who used up his whole career in doing research on the study of the immune system succumbed to the deadly disease.

His discovery of immune cells that form part of the mammalian immune system in 1973 resulted in the development of the first therapeutic cancer vaccine called Dendreon's Provenge, which treats men with advanced prostate cancer.

Dendritic Cells can be found in small quantities in tissues that are in contact with the external environment primarily the skin and inner lining of the nose, lungs, stomach and intestines.

Steinman, a Canadian, shared the Nobel accolade with American Bruce Beutler and French biologist Jules Hoffmann for their invaluable work on the activation of the immune system which led to the development of better vaccines against infection and tumors as well as provide new techniques in treating inflammatory ailments, according to the Financial Times.

A colleague of Steinman at the Rockefeller University in New York City, Dr. Sarah Schlesinger, revealed to Reuters that the professor from Canada was so dedicated to research that would spell a difference in the lives of people.

This commitment became more evident after Steinman was diagnosed with cancer according to Dr. Louis Weiner, director of the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center in Washington, D.C., who worked with Steinman on a cancer immunology panel through the American Association of Cancer Research.

A report from Reuters said that Dr. Michel Nussenzweig, head of molecular immunology at Rockefeller who had worked with Steinman for more than three decades, said Steinman had already been working on dendritic cell therapy when he became ill and wanted to try it himself.