Nobel Award Recognizes Pioneering Body's Defenses Research
This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine was granted for transformative findings that clarify how the immune system attacks harmful pathogens while sparing the body's own cells.
Three renowned researchers—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and American scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.
Their research identified specialized "security guards" within the immune system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells capable of attacking the body.
The discoveries are now enabling new therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.
The laureates will share a monetary award valued at 11m Swedish kronor.
Crucial Findings
"The work has been essential for understanding how the immune system functions and the reason we do not all develop serious self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.
This team's research address a core question: In what way does the defense system defend us from countless infections while keeping our own tissues unharmed?
Our immune system employs white blood cells that scan for indicators of disease, even viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.
Such defenders employ sensors—called recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless variations.
That provides the immune system the capacity to fight a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably produces white blood cells that can target the host.
Security Guards of the Immune System
Researchers previously knew that some of these harmful white blood cells were eliminated in the immune organ—where immune cells develop.
The latest award honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to disarm other immune cells that assault the healthy cells.
It is known that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.
A prize committee stated, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and accelerated the development of new therapies, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."
In cancer, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from attacking the growth, so studies are focused on lowering their numbers.
In self-attack disorders, experiments are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A comparable method could also be effective in reducing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.
Innovative Studies
Prof Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted experiments on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, causing autoimmune disease.
The researcher showed that introducing defense cells from other animals could prevent the illness—suggesting there was a mechanism for preventing immune cells from harming the host.
Mary Brunkow, from the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in mice and humans that resulted in the discovery of a gene vital for the way regulatory T-cells function.
"Their groundbreaking work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science specialist.
"This research is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental physiological study can have broad consequences for public health."
