Prestigious Prize Honors Pioneering Body's Defenses Research
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for transformative discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network targets harmful infections while protecting the healthy tissues.
A trio of renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and US experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.
The research identified specialized "security guards" within the immune system that eliminate rogue defense cells capable of attacking the organism.
These discoveries are now enabling new therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.
The winners will share a monetary award worth 11m Swedish kronor.
Crucial Discoveries
"The research has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses operates and the reason we don't all develop serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.
This team's research address a fundamental question: In what way does the immune system defend us from countless infections while keeping our own tissues unharmed?
Our body's protection system employs immune cells that search for indicators of infection, even viruses and germs it has not met before.
These defenders employ detectors—known as receptors—that are generated randomly in a vast number of variations.
That gives the immune system the ability to fight a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably produces white blood cells that can target the host.
Security Guards of the Body
Scientists earlier knew that a portion of these harmful defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where immune cells develop.
This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the body to disarm any defenders that attack the healthy cells.
It is known that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.
The prize committee stated, "These findings have established a new field of research and spurred the development of new therapies, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."
Regarding cancer, T-regs prevent the system from fighting the tumor, so research are focused on lowering their numbers.
For autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing increasing T-reg cells so the body is no longer under attack. A similar method could also be useful in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.
Pioneering Experiments
Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted tests on mice that had their thymus extracted, causing autoimmune disease.
He showed that introducing defense cells from other animals could stop the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from attacking the body.
Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an inherited immune disorder in rodents and humans that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor vital for how T-regs operate.
"Their pioneering work has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," said a leading physiology specialist.
"This research is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental physiological research can have broad implications for human health."