Nobel Prize Recognizes Groundbreaking Body's Defenses Research
This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the immune system targets dangerous infections while sparing the body's own cells.
Three esteemed scientists—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.
The work uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells capable of harming the body.
These discoveries are now enabling innovative treatments for immune disorders and cancer.
The laureates will share a prize fund valued at 11m Swedish kronor.
Crucial Discoveries
"Their work has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we don't all suffer from severe autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.
This trio's studies address a fundamental question: How does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells unharmed?
The body's protection system uses white blood cells that search for signs of disease, including pathogens and germs it has never encountered.
Such defenders employ sensors—known as receptors—that are produced by chance in a vast number of combinations.
This gives the immune system the capacity to combat a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably creates white blood cells that may attack the body.
Protectors of the Immune System
Researchers previously knew that some of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where white blood cells develop.
The latest award honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the body to disarm other defenders that attack the body's own tissues.
It is known that this process fails in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.
The Nobel panel stated, "These discoveries have established a novel area of investigation and accelerated the creation of new therapies, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."
Regarding malignancies, T-regs prevent the body from fighting the tumor, so research are aimed at reducing their quantity.
For self-attack disorders, trials are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is not under attack. A comparable method could also be effective in minimizing the chances of organ transplant rejection.
Pioneering Studies
Prof Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed experiments on rodents that had their thymus extracted, causing self-attack conditions.
He demonstrated that injecting defense cells from healthy animals could prevent the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the host.
Dr. Brunkow, from the a research center in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that resulted in the identification of a genetic factor critical for the way regulatory T-cells function.
"The pioneering work has uncovered how the immune system is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," commented a leading biological science specialist.
"The work is a striking example of how basic biological research can have broad consequences for public health."
