Prestigious Prize Recognizes Groundbreaking Body's Defenses Discoveries
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for revolutionary findings that clarify how the body's defense network targets harmful pathogens while sparing the healthy tissues.
A trio of renowned researchers—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and US scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.
The research identified unique "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells that could attacking the organism.
These discoveries are now paving the way for new therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.
These winners will divide a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor.
Decisive Discoveries
"The research has been essential for understanding how the immune system functions and why we don't all suffer from severe self-attack conditions," commented the head of the award panel.
This trio's studies explain a core mystery: How does the defense system protect us from countless infections while leaving our own tissues unharmed?
Our immune system uses immune cells that scan for indicators of disease, including pathogens and bacteria it has never encountered.
Such defenders utilize sensors—known as receptors—that are generated randomly in a vast number of variations.
That provides the defense network the capacity to combat a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the mechanism unavoidably creates white blood cells that can target the host.
Security Guards of the Immune System
Scientists earlier understood that a portion of these harmful defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—where white blood cells develop.
The latest award honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the system to neutralize other defenders that attack the healthy cells.
It is known that this mechanism malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.
The Nobel panel added, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and spurred the development of new therapies, for example for cancer and immune disorders."
Regarding cancer, T-regs block the system from fighting the growth, so studies are aimed at reducing their quantity.
In autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the body is not under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the risks of transplanted organ failure.
Innovative Experiments
Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed tests on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, causing autoimmune disease.
The researcher demonstrated that injecting immune cells from other animals could stop the disease—suggesting there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the body.
Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an genetic immune disorder in rodents and people that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor critical for the way regulatory T-cells operate.
"The pioneering research 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 physiology expert.
"The research is a striking example of how fundamental biological research can have broad consequences for human health."
