Nobel Prize Recognizes Groundbreaking Body's Defenses Discoveries
The prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for revolutionary findings that clarify how the body's defense network targets harmful infections while protecting the body's own cells.
Three esteemed scientists—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this accolade.
The research uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate rogue defense cells capable of harming the organism.
These findings are now enabling innovative treatments for immune disorders and malignancies.
The winners will share a prize fund worth 11 million SEK.
Decisive Findings
"Their work has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses operates and the reason we do not all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," stated the head of the award panel.
The trio's studies address a fundamental question: In what way does the immune system defend us from numerous infections while leaving our healthy cells intact?
The immune system uses white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, even viruses and bacteria it has not met before.
These cells employ detectors—known as recognition units—that are generated randomly in a vast number of combinations.
This provides the immune system the ability to combat a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the process inevitably produces immune cells that may target the host.
Security Guards of the Immune System
Researchers previously knew that a portion of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where immune cells mature.
The latest award honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the system to neutralize any immune cells that attack the healthy cells.
It is known that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.
A prize committee stated, "These discoveries have established a novel area of research and accelerated the development of new treatments, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases."
Regarding cancer, T-regs prevent the system from attacking the tumor, so research are aimed at lowering their quantity.
For autoimmune diseases, trials are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A similar method could also be useful in minimizing the risks of organ transplant failure.
Innovative Studies
Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed tests on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, causing autoimmune disease.
The researcher showed that injecting defense cells from other mice could stop the illness—suggesting there was a system for preventing defenders from harming the body.
Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the identification of a genetic factor critical for the way T-regs function.
"Their groundbreaking work has revealed how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," commented a leading physiology specialist.
"This work is a striking example of how fundamental physiological study can have far-reaching consequences for human health."