Researchers who discovered the master switch that prevents the human immune system from attacking itself.
And they just won the Nobel.
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for their groundbreaking work on peripheral immune tolerance.
While the immune system is a powerful defense against external pathogens, it requires precise regulation to avoid damaging the body's own organs. Sakaguchi first identified a specialized group of 'regulatory T cells' that act as a biological brake on immune responses. This discovery was completed when Brunkow and Ramsdell identified the FOXP3 gene as the master switch governing these cells, a finding initially made while studying a rare and fatal autoimmune disorder in children.
By revealing how the body maintains this delicate internal balance, these laureates have provided the foundation for a new era of medical treatment. Their work explains the biological origins of autoimmune diseases and has led to the development of therapies that are currently being explored to treat chronic conditions, improve organ transplant success, and even reprogram the immune environment around tumors to fight cancer. These discoveries represent a fund8amental shift in immunology, moving beyond simple defense to a sophisticated understanding of how the body governs its own cellular power.
source: Nobel Prize Outreach AB. (2025). The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025. Nobel Prize Press Release.
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