🔗 Share this article

This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for transformative findings that clarify how the body's defense network attacks dangerous pathogens while sparing the body's own cells.

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

Their work uncovered unique "security guards" within the immune system that eliminate rogue immune cells capable of harming the body.

These discoveries are now enabling innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

The winners will divide a monetary award worth 11m SEK.

Decisive Discoveries

"Their work has been essential for comprehending how the body's defenses operates and the reason we don't all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the award panel.

This team's studies address a fundamental question: How does the immune system protect us from numerous infections while keeping our healthy cells intact?

Our body's protection system uses immune cells that scan for signs of disease, even pathogens and bacteria it has never encountered.

These cells utilize detectors—called recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless variations.

This gives the immune system the ability to combat a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably creates white blood cells that may attack the body.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Researchers previously knew that some of these harmful defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—where white blood cells develop.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the body to disarm any defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

A Nobel panel added, "These discoveries have established a novel area of investigation and spurred the creation of innovative treatments, for example for cancer and immune disorders."

In cancer, T-regs block the body from attacking the tumor, so studies are aimed at lowering their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, experiments are testing increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is not being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in reducing the risks of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted tests on rodents that had their immune gland removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

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

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and humans that resulted in the identification of a gene vital for how regulatory T-cells operate.

"The pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," said a prominent physiology expert.

"The work is a striking illustration of how fundamental physiological study can have broad implications for human health."