🔗 Share this article

This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for revolutionary findings that illuminate how the body's defense network targets dangerous infections while sparing the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned scientists—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their research uncovered unique "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate rogue immune cells capable of harming the body.

The findings are now paving the way for innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

These laureates will share a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Crucial Findings

"The work has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses functions and the reason we do not all develop severe autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the award panel.

This trio's research explain a core mystery: In what way does the defense system defend us from numerous invaders while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

Our body's protection system uses immune cells that scan for indicators of infection, including pathogens and bacteria it has not met before.

These defenders employ detectors—called receptors—that are produced by chance in a vast number of combinations.

That provides the immune system the capacity to combat a wide array of invaders, but the randomness of the process inevitably creates immune cells that may target the body.

Security Guards of the Body

Scientists earlier understood that some of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the thymus—the site where white blood cells develop.

The latest award recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the system to neutralize other immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism fails in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.

A prize committee added, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and accelerated the creation of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, T-regs prevent the system from attacking the tumor, so research are aimed at reducing their quantity.

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

Innovative Studies

Prof Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed experiments on rodents that had their thymus removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher demonstrated that introducing immune cells from other animals could stop the illness—implying there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an inherited immune disorder in mice and humans that led to the identification of a genetic factor vital for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"The pioneering research has uncovered how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science expert.

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