🔗 Share this article

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

Three esteemed scientists—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.

Their research uncovered unique "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate rogue immune cells capable of attacking the body.

These discoveries are now paving the way for innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

These winners will share a monetary award worth 11 million SEK.

Decisive Findings

"The work has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and the reason we don't all develop severe autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the award panel.

This team's research address a fundamental mystery: How does the immune system protect us from numerous invaders while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

Our body's protection system employs immune cells that scan for indicators of infection, including viruses and germs it has never encountered.

These defenders employ detectors—called recognition units—that are generated by chance in countless combinations.

That gives the immune system the capacity to fight a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably produces white blood cells that may attack the body.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists previously understood that a portion of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—where immune cells develop.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm any immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

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

The prize committee stated, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and spurred the development of new therapies, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells block the body from fighting the growth, so research are focused on reducing their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the organism is not being harmed. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed tests on rodents that had their thymus extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.

He demonstrated that introducing defense cells from other animals could prevent the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that resulted in the discovery of a gene critical for how T-regs operate.

"Their pioneering research has uncovered how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," commented a leading biological science expert.

"The work is a striking illustration of how basic physiological research can have broad implications for public health."