Prestigious Prize Recognizes Pioneering Immune System Discoveries

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for transformative discoveries that clarify how the immune system attacks dangerous pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this accolade.

The research uncovered unique "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate rogue immune cells that could harming the body.

These discoveries are now enabling innovative therapies for immune disorders and malignancies.

The laureates will divide a monetary award worth 11 million Swedish kronor.

Decisive Findings

"Their research has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses functions and the reason we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

This team's research explain a core question: How does the defense system defend us from numerous infections while keeping our own tissues intact?

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

These defenders employ detectors—known as receptors—that are produced randomly in countless combinations.

This provides the immune system the ability to fight a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably creates white blood cells that can target the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Researchers previously 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—described as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the system to disarm any defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this process fails in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

A Nobel panel added, "These findings have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the creation of innovative treatments, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding cancer, T-regs prevent the body from fighting the tumor, so studies are focused on reducing their quantity.

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, conducted tests on mice that had their immune gland removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that introducing defense cells from other mice could prevent the illness—implying there was a system for preventing defenders from attacking the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor critical for the way T-regs function.

"The groundbreaking research has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the body's own tissues," commented a prominent biological science specialist.

"This research is a remarkable example of how basic biological research can have far-reaching consequences for human health."