🔗 Share this article

This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was granted for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks harmful infections while sparing the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned scientists—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this honor.

The work uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells that could harming the body.

These discoveries are now paving the way for new therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

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

Crucial Findings

"The research has been essential for comprehending how the immune system operates and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the award panel.

This trio's studies explain a core mystery: How does the defense system defend us from numerous invaders while leaving our own tissues intact?

The body's protection system uses immune cells that scan for indicators of infection, even viruses and germs it has never encountered.

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

That provides the immune system the capacity to combat a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably produces white blood cells that can attack the body.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Researchers previously understood that a portion of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where white blood cells develop.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the body to disarm any immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

It is known that this process fails in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A Nobel panel stated, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of investigation and spurred the development of new treatments, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from attacking the growth, so studies are aimed at lowering their quantity.

For autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the body is not under attack. A similar method could also be useful in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed tests on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, causing autoimmune disease.

He demonstrated that introducing defense cells from other mice could stop the illness—suggesting there was a system for preventing immune cells from harming the body.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an genetic immune disorder in mice and people that resulted in the identification of a gene critical for the way T-regs operate.

"The groundbreaking research has uncovered how the body's defenses is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the healthy cells," said a leading physiology expert.

"This work is a striking illustration of how basic biological research can have broad implications for human health."