Prestigious Award Honors Pioneering Immune System Research

The prestigious award in medical science has been granted for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the immune system targets dangerous infections while protecting the body's own cells.

Three esteemed scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this honor.

The research uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that remove rogue defense cells that could attacking the organism.

These findings are now enabling innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

The laureates will divide a monetary award worth 11 million SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

"The work has been decisive for comprehending how the body's defenses operates and why we don't all suffer from severe self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the award panel.

This trio's research explain a fundamental mystery: How does the defense system protect us from countless invaders while keeping our healthy cells intact?

The body's protection system employs white blood cells that scan for indicators of infection, including viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such cells utilize sensors—called recognition units—that are produced randomly in a vast number of combinations.

This gives the immune system the ability to combat a wide array of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that may target the body.

Protectors of the Body

Scientists earlier understood that some of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—the site where immune cells develop.

This year's award honors the discovery of T-reg cells—described as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the system to disarm any immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

We know that this process fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Nobel panel stated, "The findings have established a new field of investigation and spurred the development of innovative therapies, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding cancer, T-regs prevent the system from fighting the growth, so research are focused on reducing their quantity.

In autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is not being harmed. A comparable method could also be effective in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Studies

Prof Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed tests on rodents that had their immune gland removed, leading to self-attack conditions.

He demonstrated that introducing immune cells from other mice could stop the disease—suggesting there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in rodents and people that led to the discovery of a gene critical for how regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their pioneering work has uncovered how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," commented a prominent physiology specialist.

"This work is a striking example of how basic physiological study can have far-reaching consequences for public health."