🔗 Share this article

This year's Nobel Prize in medical science was awarded for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the immune system attacks harmful pathogens while sparing the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

The research uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue immune cells that could attacking the organism.

These discoveries are now paving the way for innovative treatments for immune disorders and cancer.

The winners will divide a prize fund worth 11 million Swedish kronor.

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and why we don't all develop serious self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's studies explain a core question: In what way does the defense system protect us from numerous infections while keeping our healthy cells intact?

Our body's protection system uses immune cells that scan for signs of infection, even viruses and bacteria it has not met before.

These cells employ sensors—called recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless variations.

That gives the defense network the ability to combat a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably produces immune cells that may target the body.

Security Guards of the Body

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

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

It is known that this process fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A Nobel panel stated, "The findings have established a new field of investigation and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and immune disorders."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the body from attacking the growth, so studies are focused on reducing their quantity.

For self-attack disorders, trials are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A similar approach could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Experiments

Prof Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed experiments on rodents that had their thymus removed, causing self-attack conditions.

He demonstrated that introducing defense cells from healthy mice could stop the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from attacking the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were studying an inherited immune disorder in rodents and people that resulted in the discovery of a gene critical for how T-regs function.

"The 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 leading physiology specialist.

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