🔗 Share this article

The Nobel Prize in medical science was awarded for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the immune system targets dangerous pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

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

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

The discoveries are now paving the way for innovative treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

These laureates will divide a prize fund worth 11 million Swedish kronor.

Decisive Discoveries

"Their research has been essential for understanding how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases," stated the head of the Nobel Committee.

The team's studies address a fundamental mystery: In what way does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

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

Such defenders employ detectors—called recognition units—that are generated by chance in a vast number of combinations.

That provides the immune system the ability to fight a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably creates immune cells that may target the host.

Protectors of the Immune System

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

This year's award recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to neutralize other defenders that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this process malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A prize committee stated, "The discoveries have established a novel area of investigation and spurred the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

Regarding malignancies, T-regs block the body from fighting the growth, so research are aimed at lowering their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing increasing T-reg cells so the body is no longer being harmed. A comparable method could also be useful in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Experiments

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

He showed that introducing immune cells from healthy animals could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from harming the host.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor critical for how T-regs function.

"The pioneering research has revealed how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," said a leading biological science specialist.

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