Nobel Prize in medicine granted for immune system breakthroughs

STOCKHOLM, October 6. /TASS/. The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for 2025 will be given to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi, the Nobel Committee said.

The scientists were honored with the prize "for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance," it said.

The committee said that the body's immune system needs to be kept in balance, or it will attack its own organs. This year's 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."

The 2025 laureates identified the protectors of the immune system — regulatory T cells that prevent immune cells from attacking the 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," said Olle Kampe, chair of the Nobel Committee.

In 1995, Sakaguchi discovered a class of immune cells that protect the body from autoimmune diseases. The American scientists made another discovery in 2001, explaining why some experimental mice are particularly susceptible to autoimmune diseases. They found a mutation in the FOXP3 gene in mice, and also showed that mutations in the human equivalent of this gene cause a serious autoimmune disease, IPEX syndrome.

Two years later, Sakaguchi proved that the FOXP3 gene regulates cell development, which he identified in 1995. These cells, now known as regulatory T cells, control other immune cells and ensure the immune system's tolerance to its own tissues.

The laureates

"The laureates’ discoveries launched the field of peripheral tolerance, spurring the development of medical treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. This may also lead to more successful transplantations. Several of these treatments are now undergoing clinical trials," the committee explained.

Brunkow was born in 1961. She is a senior project manager at the American Institute of Systems Biology and specializes in molecular biology, genetics, and genomics.

Ramsdell was born in 1960. He works for the biotech company Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco.

Sakaguchi was born in 1951. He works at the Osaka University.