🔗 Share this article

This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for revolutionary findings that illuminate how the immune system targets harmful infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.

Their work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells capable of harming the organism.

The findings are now enabling new therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

These winners will divide a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Crucial Discoveries

"The work has been decisive for comprehending how the body's defenses functions and the reason we don't all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's research address a fundamental question: In what way does the defense system defend us from countless invaders while leaving our own tissues intact?

Our body's protection system employs white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, including pathogens and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such defenders employ sensors—known as recognition units—that are produced randomly in a vast number of variations.

That gives the defense network the ability to fight a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably creates white blood cells that can target the host.

Protectors of the Body

Scientists earlier knew that a portion of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where white blood cells mature.

This year's award honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the system to neutralize other immune cells that attack the body's own tissues.

It is known that this process malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.

A Nobel panel stated, "The findings have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and spurred the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

In cancer, regulatory T-cells prevent the body from attacking the growth, so research are focused on reducing their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring increasing T-reg cells so the body is no longer being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in minimizing the risks of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Studies

Prof Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed tests on mice that had their immune gland removed, causing autoimmune disease.

He showed that introducing immune cells from healthy animals could stop the illness—suggesting there was a system for preventing defenders from attacking the host.

Mary Brunkow, from the a research center in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an genetic immune disorder in mice and people that resulted in the identification of a gene vital for how T-regs function.

"Their groundbreaking research has revealed how the body's defenses is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science specialist.

"This work is a remarkable illustration of how basic biological study can have far-reaching consequences for human health."