Nobel Prize Recognizes Pioneering Body's Defenses Research
This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for revolutionary findings that clarify how the body's defense network attacks dangerous infections while protecting the healthy tissues.
A trio of renowned researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.
The work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning defense cells that could harming the body.
These findings are now paving the way for new treatments for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.
These laureates will divide a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor.
Crucial Discoveries
"The research has been essential for comprehending how the body's defenses operates and the reason we do not all suffer from severe autoimmune diseases," stated the head of the award panel.
This team's research address a fundamental question: How does the defense system protect us from numerous invaders while leaving our own tissues intact?
The body's protection system uses white blood cells that scan for signs of infection, including pathogens and germs it has never encountered.
Such defenders employ sensors—known as recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless combinations.
That gives the immune system the capacity to fight a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the mechanism unavoidably produces immune cells that can target the body.
Security Guards of the Immune System
Scientists earlier knew that a portion of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—where white blood cells develop.
The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to neutralize any defenders that attack the healthy cells.
We know that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
A Nobel panel added, "These findings have established a novel area of investigation and spurred the creation of new therapies, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."
In cancer, T-regs block the body from attacking the growth, so research are focused on lowering their numbers.
In autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the body is no longer under attack. A similar approach could also be useful in reducing the risks of organ transplant failure.
Innovative Experiments
Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed tests on mice that had their immune gland extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.
He showed that introducing immune cells from other animals could prevent the illness—implying there was a system for blocking defenders from attacking the body.
Dr. Brunkow, from the a research center in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and people that resulted in the identification of a genetic factor vital for the way regulatory T-cells function.
"Their pioneering work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," said a leading biological science specialist.
"The work is a remarkable example of how basic physiological study can have broad implications for public health."
