NOBLE PRIZE TO DISCOVERERS ON IMMUNE SYSTEM

By Anshika Khera

Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi won the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering how the body’s immune system learns not to attack itself. Their work explains how the immune system stays in balance ,fighting harmful invaders while avoiding damage to the body’s own tissues.

Mary E. Brunkow works as a Senior Program Manager at the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, USA.Fred Ramsdell is a Scientific Advisor at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, USA.Shimon Sakaguchi is a Professor at the Immunology Frontier Research Center at Osaka University in Japan. The winners discovered special immune cells called T cells, which act like the body’s security guards and stop the immune system from attacking healthy cells.

Olle Kämpe, chair of the Nobel Committee, said in a statement ,as quoted, “Their discoveries have been decisive for our understanding of how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases.” The Nobel Committee said the winners’ discoveries started a new area of research called peripheral tolerance, which has led to new treatments for cancer and autoimmune diseases. Their work may also help make organ transplants more successful. Some of these new treatments are already being tested in clinical trials.