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Mary E. Brunkow, Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle, USA, Fred Ramsdell, Sonoma Biotherapeutics, San Francisco, USA and Shimon Sakaguchi, Osaka University, Japan are awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 for their ground-breaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance that prevents the immune system from harming the body.
Their discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of new treatments, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases, according to a communication note from the NoblePrize Org.
This year’s laureates identified the immune system’s security guards, regulatory T cells, which prevent immune cells from attacking our own body. “Their discoveries have been decisive for our understanding of how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases,” stated Olle Kämpe, chair, Nobel Committee.
Shimon Sakaguchi was swimming against the tide in 1995, when he made the first key discovery. At the time, many researchers were convinced that immune tolerance only developed due to potentially harmful immune cells being eliminated in the thymus, through a process called central tolerance. Sakaguchi showed that the immune system is more complex and discovered a previously unknown class of immune cells, which protect the body from autoimmune diseases, said the note.
One of the immune system’s marvels is its ability to identify pathogens and differentiate them from the body’s own cells. The microbes that threaten our health do not wear a uniform they all have different appearances. Many have also developed similarities to human cells, as a form of camouflage. The questions on how the immune system keeps track of what to attack and what to protect, along with why the immune system attacks the human bodies more frequently were reached in depth.
The Nobel Prize laureates identified the immune system’s security guards, regulatory T cells, thus laying the foundation for a new field of research. The discoveries have also led to the development of potential medical treatments that are now being evaluated in clinical trials. The hope is to be able to treat or cure autoimmune diseases, provide more effective cancer treatments and prevent serious complications after stem cell transplants, said the communication note.
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