🔗 Share this article

The prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the immune system targets harmful pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

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

Their work uncovered specialized "security guards" within the immune system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells capable of attacking the organism.

The findings are now enabling new therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

These winners will share a prize fund worth 11 million SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been essential for comprehending how the immune system operates and the reason we don't all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the award panel.

This team's research address a core mystery: In what way does the defense system defend us from numerous infections while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

Our body's protection system employs white blood cells that scan for indicators of infection, including pathogens and bacteria it has not met before.

These defenders utilize sensors—called receptors—that are produced randomly in a vast number of combinations.

That gives the defense network the capacity to fight a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably creates white blood cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Researchers earlier knew that some of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where immune cells develop.

This year's award recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to disarm any defenders that assault the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.

A prize committee added, "The findings have established a new field of investigation and accelerated the development of new treatments, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding cancer, regulatory T-cells block the system from attacking the growth, so studies are focused on lowering their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, trials are testing boosting T-reg cells so the organism is not under attack. A comparable approach could also be effective in reducing the chances of organ transplant failure.

Pioneering Studies

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed tests on mice that had their immune gland removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher demonstrated that injecting immune cells from other animals could stop the disease—implying there was a mechanism for preventing immune cells from harming the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that resulted in the identification of a gene critical for how T-regs operate.

"The pioneering research has revealed how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," said a prominent physiology specialist.

"The work is a striking illustration of how basic physiological study can have far-reaching consequences for human health."