🔗 Share this article

This year's prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for revolutionary findings that illuminate how the immune system attacks harmful infections while protecting the body's own cells.

A trio of esteemed scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.

The work identified specialized "security guards" within the defense system that remove malfunctioning immune cells that could attacking the organism.

The discoveries are now enabling innovative therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

The laureates will divide a monetary award valued at 11m Swedish kronor.

Decisive Discoveries

"The work has been decisive for comprehending how the body's defenses operates and why we do not all develop severe autoimmune diseases," stated the chair of the award panel.

The trio's studies address a fundamental question: How does the immune system protect us from numerous infections while leaving our healthy cells unharmed?

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

Such cells utilize sensors—known as recognition units—that are produced by chance in countless variations.

This provides the immune system the capacity to fight a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably creates white blood cells that may target the body.

Security Guards of the Body

Scientists earlier understood that a portion of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—the site where white blood cells develop.

This year's Nobel Prize honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the system to disarm any immune cells that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this process malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

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

In cancer, regulatory T-cells block the body from fighting the tumor, so research are aimed at lowering their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, trials are testing increasing T-reg cells so the body is not under attack. A similar method could also be effective in reducing the risks of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Experiments

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

He demonstrated that injecting defense cells from healthy mice could prevent the illness—implying there was a system for preventing immune cells from attacking the body.

Dr. Brunkow, from the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an inherited immune disorder in mice and people that led to the discovery of a genetic factor vital for the way T-regs operate.

"Their pioneering research has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," commented a prominent physiology specialist.

"This research is a striking example of how basic biological study can have broad implications for human health."