🔗 Share this article

The prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for revolutionary findings that illuminate how the body's defense network targets dangerous pathogens while sparing the healthy tissues.

Three renowned scientists—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

The research uncovered unique "security guards" within the defense system that remove malfunctioning immune cells capable of harming the body.

These discoveries are now enabling new therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

The laureates will divide a prize fund valued at 11m Swedish kronor.

Crucial Discoveries

"Their research has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and the reason we don't all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's research explain a core question: In what way does the immune system defend us from numerous infections while keeping our own tissues intact?

Our immune system uses immune cells that scan for indicators of disease, including pathogens and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such defenders utilize sensors—known as receptors—that are generated randomly in a vast number of variations.

This provides the defense network the ability to combat a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably creates immune cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists earlier knew that some of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—where immune cells mature.

The latest award recognizes the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the system to disarm any immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.

The prize committee added, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and accelerated the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding cancer, regulatory T-cells block the system from fighting the growth, so studies are focused on reducing their quantity.

For self-attack disorders, trials are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable approach could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant failure.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted tests on rodents that had their immune gland removed, leading to self-attack conditions.

He showed that injecting immune cells from healthy animals could stop the illness—implying there was a system for preventing defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that resulted in the discovery of a gene critical for how regulatory T-cells function.

"Their pioneering work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," commented a prominent biological science specialist.

"The work is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental biological research can have broad consequences for human health."