Nobel Award Recognizes Pioneering Body's Defenses Research
The prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine was granted for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network targets harmful infections while protecting the body's own cells.
Three renowned scientists—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this accolade.
Their work identified unique "security guards" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells that could harming the body.
The discoveries are now enabling new therapies for immune disorders and cancer.
The laureates will divide a monetary award worth 11m SEK.
Decisive Discoveries
"The research has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we don't all suffer from severe self-attack conditions," stated the head of the Nobel Committee.
This trio's studies address a core question: In what way does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while keeping our healthy cells unharmed?
Our immune system uses immune cells that scan for indicators of disease, including viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.
These defenders utilize detectors—known as recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless variations.
That provides the defense network the capacity to fight a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that may attack the body.
Security Guards of the Immune System
Researchers earlier understood that some of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—where immune cells develop.
This year's award honors the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the body to neutralize any defenders that assault the healthy cells.
We know that this mechanism malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.
A prize committee stated, "The discoveries have established a novel area of research and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."
Regarding malignancies, T-regs prevent the system from fighting the growth, so research are focused on lowering their numbers.
In self-attack disorders, trials are testing increasing T-reg cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable approach could also be useful in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.
Innovative Studies
Prof Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, performed tests on rodents that had their thymus removed, leading to autoimmune disease.
The researcher demonstrated that injecting immune cells from other animals could prevent the illness—implying there was a system for blocking immune cells from attacking the host.
Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in mice and people that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor critical for how T-regs operate.
"Their groundbreaking research has revealed how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," commented a prominent physiology expert.
"This work is a striking illustration of how fundamental physiological research can have far-reaching consequences for public health."
