Prestigious Prize Recognizes Groundbreaking Body's Defenses Discoveries
The Nobel Prize in medical science was awarded for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks harmful infections while sparing the body's own cells.
A trio of renowned researchers—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and American experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this accolade.
The work uncovered unique "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate rogue immune cells that could attacking the organism.
These findings are now enabling innovative treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer.
These winners will share a prize fund worth 11 million Swedish kronor.
Decisive Findings
"Their work has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.
The team's studies explain a core mystery: In what way does the defense system defend us from countless infections while keeping our own tissues unharmed?
The body's protection system uses white blood cells that search for signs of infection, including viruses and germs it has never encountered.
Such cells utilize sensors—known as recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless variations.
That provides the immune system the capacity to combat a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably produces white blood cells that can attack the host.
Protectors of the Body
Researchers previously understood that a portion of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where immune cells develop.
This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of T-reg 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.
It is known that this process malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.
A Nobel panel stated, "These discoveries have established a new field of research and accelerated the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."
In cancer, T-regs prevent the body from fighting the growth, so studies are aimed at lowering their numbers.
In autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is not being harmed. A similar method could also be effective in minimizing the risks of organ transplant rejection.
Innovative Studies
Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed tests on mice that had their thymus removed, leading to self-attack conditions.
The researcher showed that introducing defense cells from healthy animals could prevent the illness—suggesting there was a system for preventing defenders from attacking the body.
Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the identification of a gene vital for how T-regs operate.
"The groundbreaking work has uncovered how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the body's own tissues," said a leading physiology specialist.
"The research is a striking example of how basic physiological study can have far-reaching consequences for public health."
