🔗 Share this article

This year's Nobel Prize in medical science has been awarded for transformative findings that illuminate how the immune system attacks harmful infections while sparing the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned scientists—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this accolade.

Their work uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells that could attacking the organism.

The findings are now enabling new treatments for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

The winners will divide a prize fund valued at 11 million Swedish kronor.

Crucial Findings

"The research has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses functions and why we do not all develop severe self-attack conditions," stated the head of the award panel.

This trio's studies address a core question: How does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while keeping our own tissues intact?

The body's protection system uses white blood cells that search for indicators of infection, including viruses and germs it has never encountered.

Such defenders employ sensors—called receptors—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

This gives the immune system the ability to fight a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably creates immune cells that may attack the body.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Researchers previously understood that some of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the thymus—the site where immune cells mature.

The latest award recognizes the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the system to neutralize other immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

It is known that this process fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.

A Nobel panel added, "These discoveries have established a new field of investigation and spurred the development of innovative therapies, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells block the body from attacking the tumor, so studies are focused on lowering their quantity.

In self-attack disorders, trials are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A similar method could also be useful in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Studies

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed experiments on mice that had their thymus removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that injecting defense cells from other mice could stop the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the a research center in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an inherited immune disorder in mice and people that resulted in the identification of a genetic factor critical for the way regulatory T-cells function.

"Their groundbreaking work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from mistakenly attacking the body's own tissues," commented a prominent physiology expert.

"This research is a remarkable example of how fundamental physiological research can have far-reaching implications for human health."