Prestigious Award Honors Groundbreaking Body's Defenses Research

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for transformative findings that illuminate how the immune system attacks dangerous infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

The research uncovered specialized "security guards" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells capable of attacking the organism.

These discoveries are now enabling new therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

These laureates will divide a prize fund valued at 11 million Swedish kronor.

Crucial Findings

"The work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and why we don't all suffer from severe autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

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

The body's protection system employs immune cells that search for signs of disease, including pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

Such cells utilize sensors—known as receptors—that are generated randomly in a vast number of variations.

This provides the immune system the capacity to combat a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the process unavoidably creates immune cells that may target the host.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers previously knew that some of these problematic white blood cells were eliminated in the immune organ—where immune cells mature.

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—described as the body's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the system to neutralize other immune cells that assault the body's own tissues.

It is known that this process malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.

A prize committee stated, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and spurred the creation of new treatments, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

In malignancies, T-regs prevent the body from attacking the growth, so research are aimed at reducing their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is not under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in minimizing the risks of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted experiments on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that introducing immune cells from other animals could stop the disease—implying there was a mechanism for preventing defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology 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 discovery of a genetic factor critical for the way T-regs operate.

"The pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," commented a leading physiology expert.

"This work is a remarkable illustration of how basic biological research can have far-reaching implications for public health."