🔗 Share this article

This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was granted for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the immune system targets dangerous pathogens while protecting the body's own cells.

Three renowned researchers—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.

The research identified specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that remove malfunctioning immune cells capable of harming the body.

These findings are now paving the way for new treatments for immune disorders and cancer.

These laureates will divide a prize fund worth 11m SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

"Their research has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and the reason we do not all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the award panel.

This team's studies explain a fundamental mystery: How does the immune system protect us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells intact?

The immune system employs immune cells that search for signs of disease, including viruses and bacteria it has not met before.

Such defenders employ detectors—called recognition units—that are generated by chance in a vast number of combinations.

That gives the immune system the ability to fight a wide array of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably creates white blood cells that may attack the body.

Protectors of the Immune System

Researchers earlier understood that a portion of these harmful white blood cells were eliminated in the immune organ—where white blood cells mature.

The latest award honors the identification of T-reg cells—known as the body's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the system to neutralize any defenders that attack the healthy cells.

It is known that this mechanism malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Nobel panel added, "The findings have laid the foundation for a new field of research and accelerated the creation of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding cancer, T-regs prevent the system from fighting the tumor, so studies are aimed at lowering their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, trials are testing increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer being harmed. A similar approach could also be useful in minimizing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Studies

Prof Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, conducted tests on mice that had their thymus extracted, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher demonstrated that introducing immune cells from other mice could prevent the illness—suggesting there was a system for blocking immune cells from attacking the host.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that led to the identification of a gene critical for how regulatory T-cells operate.

"The pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the body's own tissues," commented a prominent biological science expert.

"The research is a striking example of how basic physiological research can have far-reaching consequences for human health."