🔗 Share this article

The prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for transformative findings that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks dangerous pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

A trio of esteemed researchers—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their research uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning defense cells that could attacking the organism.

These findings are now paving the way for innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

The winners will divide a monetary award valued at 11 million SEK.

Crucial Findings

"The work has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system operates and why we don't all develop serious self-attack conditions," commented the head of the award panel.

The trio's studies explain a core mystery: How does the defense system defend us from numerous invaders while keeping our healthy cells unharmed?

Our body's protection system employs white blood cells that search for indicators of infection, even pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

Such cells employ sensors—known as receptors—that are produced by chance in a vast number of combinations.

That gives the immune system the capacity to fight a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the process unavoidably creates white blood cells that can target the body.

Protectors of the Immune System

Scientists previously knew that a portion of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where immune cells develop.

The latest award recognizes the discovery of T-reg cells—described as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to neutralize any defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this mechanism fails in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Nobel panel added, "These findings have established a novel area of research and spurred the development of new therapies, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells block the body from fighting the tumor, so studies are focused on lowering their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, trials are exploring increasing T-reg cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A similar approach could also be effective in minimizing the risks of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Studies

Prof Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted tests on rodents that had their thymus removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that injecting immune cells from healthy animals could stop the disease—implying there was a system for blocking defenders from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were investigating an genetic immune disorder in rodents and humans that led to the discovery of a genetic factor vital for how regulatory T-cells function.

"The pioneering research has revealed how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," commented a leading physiology expert.

"The work is a striking example of how fundamental biological research can have broad implications for human health."