Nobel Prize Recognizes Pioneering Body's Defenses Discoveries
The Nobel Prize in medical science has been granted for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network attacks dangerous infections while sparing the body's own cells.
Three renowned researchers—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and American experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this accolade.
The research identified unique "sentinels" within the immune system that eliminate rogue defense cells capable of harming the body.
The findings are now paving the way for innovative treatments for immune disorders and cancer.
These laureates will divide a monetary award worth 11m Swedish kronor.
Decisive Discoveries
"The research has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses functions and the reason we do not all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.
The team's studies address a core mystery: In what way does the defense system defend us from countless invaders while keeping our own tissues unharmed?
Our immune system employs immune cells that search for signs of disease, including viruses and bacteria it has not met before.
Such cells employ detectors—known as recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless variations.
That gives the defense network the ability to combat a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably creates immune cells that can target the host.
Protectors of the Immune System
Scientists previously understood that some of these harmful defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—where white blood cells develop.
The latest Nobel Prize honors the identification of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm other immune cells that attack the healthy cells.
It is known that this process fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.
A Nobel panel added, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and spurred the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."
In malignancies, T-regs prevent the system from fighting the growth, so studies are focused on lowering their quantity.
For self-attack disorders, trials are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the body is not under attack. A similar method could also be useful in reducing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.
Pioneering Experiments
Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed experiments on mice that had their thymus extracted, causing autoimmune disease.
The researcher showed that introducing immune cells from healthy animals could stop the illness—implying there was a system for blocking defenders from attacking the body.
Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that resulted in the identification of a gene critical for how regulatory T-cells function.
"Their groundbreaking work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the body's own tissues," commented a prominent physiology expert.
"This research is a striking example of how fundamental physiological study can have far-reaching implications for public health."
