Nobel Prize Recognizes Pioneering Body's Defenses Research

This year's Nobel Prize in medical science has been granted for revolutionary findings that clarify how the immune system targets harmful infections while protecting the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

The research identified unique "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells that could attacking the organism.

These findings are now enabling innovative treatments for immune disorders and cancer.

The laureates will share a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Crucial Discoveries

"The work has been essential for comprehending how the immune system functions and the reason we don't all suffer from severe self-attack conditions," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's research explain a fundamental question: In what way does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

The body's protection system uses immune cells that search for signs of disease, including viruses and bacteria it has not met before.

Such defenders utilize detectors—known as recognition units—that are generated by chance in countless combinations.

This provides the immune system the ability to combat a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the mechanism unavoidably creates immune cells that can attack the host.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers earlier 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 recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to disarm any immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.

The prize committee stated, "The findings have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and spurred the creation of new treatments, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

In cancer, regulatory T-cells prevent the body from fighting the tumor, so studies are aimed at reducing their quantity.

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is not under attack. A similar approach could also be effective in reducing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Studies

Professor Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed tests on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, causing autoimmune disease.

He showed that introducing defense cells from healthy mice could prevent the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from harming the body.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and people that resulted in the discovery of a gene critical for the way T-regs function.

"Their pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent physiology expert.

"The work is a remarkable illustration of how basic physiological research can have far-reaching implications for public health."