Prestigious Prize Honors Groundbreaking Body's Defenses Research
The prestigious award in medical science was awarded for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the immune system targets dangerous pathogens while protecting the body's own cells.
Three esteemed scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.
Their research uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells capable of attacking the organism.
These discoveries are now paving the way for new treatments for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.
The laureates will share a prize fund valued at 11 million Swedish kronor.
Decisive Discoveries
"The research has been essential for comprehending how the body's defenses functions and the reason we do not all develop serious self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.
This team's studies explain a core question: How does the defense system protect us from numerous infections while keeping our healthy cells unharmed?
The body's protection system uses immune cells that search for signs of disease, including pathogens and germs it has not met before.
These defenders utilize sensors—called recognition units—that are produced by chance in a vast number of variations.
That gives the defense network the ability to combat a broad range of threats, but the randomness of the process inevitably creates white blood cells that can attack the body.
Security Guards of the Body
Scientists previously knew that a portion of these problematic white blood cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where immune cells develop.
This year's Nobel Prize honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the body to disarm any immune cells that attack the healthy cells.
It is known that this process malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.
A prize committee stated, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of investigation and spurred the development of new therapies, for example for tumors and immune disorders."
In malignancies, T-regs prevent the body from attacking the tumor, so research are focused on lowering their quantity.
For autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring increasing T-reg cells so the body is not under attack. A comparable approach could also be useful in reducing the risks of transplanted organ failure.
Innovative Experiments
Professor Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted tests on mice that had their immune gland removed, leading to self-attack conditions.
He showed that introducing defense cells from healthy animals could stop the illness—implying there was a mechanism for preventing defenders from harming the body.
Dr. Brunkow, from the a research center in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that resulted in the identification of a gene critical for the way T-regs operate.
"The groundbreaking work has revealed how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," commented a leading biological science specialist.
"This research is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental physiological research can have far-reaching consequences for public health."
