Prestigious Prize Recognizes Pioneering Body's Defenses Research

This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was granted for transformative discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network targets harmful infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three renowned scientists—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and US scientists Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

Their work uncovered specialized "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells capable of attacking the body.

These discoveries are now enabling new therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

These laureates will divide a monetary award worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Crucial Discoveries

"Their work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and why we do not all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," stated the chair of the award panel.

This team's research explain a core mystery: In what way does the defense system protect us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells unharmed?

The immune system uses white blood cells that search for signs of disease, including viruses and germs it has never encountered.

Such defenders employ detectors—known as recognition units—that are generated randomly in countless variations.

That gives the immune system the ability to fight a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably produces white blood cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Body

Scientists previously knew that a portion of these harmful 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 body's "security guards"—which patrol the body to neutralize other defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this process malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A Nobel panel added, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and spurred the development of new therapies, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

Regarding malignancies, T-regs block the body from attacking the growth, so research are focused on reducing their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, trials are testing increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is not being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed tests on mice that had their thymus extracted, causing autoimmune disease.

He showed that injecting defense cells from other mice could stop the illness—suggesting there was a system for preventing immune cells from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that resulted in the identification of a gene vital for the way regulatory T-cells function.

"The pioneering research has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science expert.

"The research is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental physiological research can have far-reaching consequences for public health."