🔗 Share this article

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

Three esteemed researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their research identified specialized "security guards" within the immune system that eliminate rogue defense cells that could harming the organism.

The discoveries are now enabling innovative treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

The winners will share a monetary award valued at 11m Swedish kronor.

Crucial Findings

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

The team's research address a fundamental question: In what way does the defense system defend us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells intact?

The immune system employs immune cells that search for indicators of disease, even viruses and bacteria it has not met before.

These cells employ detectors—known as recognition units—that are produced by chance in countless variations.

That provides the defense network the ability to combat a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably produces white blood cells that can target the body.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Researchers previously understood that some of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where immune cells develop.

This year's award recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to disarm other immune cells that assault the body's own tissues.

It is known that this process malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Nobel panel added, "The findings have established a novel area of investigation and spurred the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from attacking the growth, so research are focused on lowering their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, experiments are testing increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted tests on mice that had their thymus extracted, leading to self-attack conditions.

The researcher showed that introducing immune cells from healthy animals could stop the illness—suggesting there was a system for preventing defenders from harming the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the a research center in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were investigating an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and people that resulted in the identification of a genetic factor critical for how T-regs function.

"Their pioneering research has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," said a leading biological science specialist.

"This work is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental physiological research can have broad consequences for public health."