And the Nobel Week of awards has come, and, like every year, it begins with Nobel Prize for MedicineIn this case, he went to Mary E. Branco, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi “For his discoveries associated with peripheral immune tolerance.”
The announcement was carried out a little more than 11:30 (Spanish peninsula) in the Nobel Assembly, held in Caroline InstituteIn Stockholm (Sweden). As always, he is responsible for the announcement of the name of the winners, first in Swedish, and then in English, it was John Perlman, the secretary of this meeting.
Winners will have to distribute the prize 11 million Swedish crownsIt is equivalent to approximately 1 million euros. It is true that this is not the largest scientific award, but one of the most famous. In addition, in recent years it has generously increased.
Nobel Prize for Medicine to study the protection of our body
Without systems to which these three scientists have devoted their research, our body would constantly attack itself. With various deposits, they contributed to the detection Regulatory T -cellswhich prevent immune cells from attacking our own body.
The first big step was performed by Shakaguchi in 1995. This scientist University Osaka He denied a very generalized idea during this time. Then it was believed that the reason why the immune system does not constantly attack the body itself is only that potentially harmful immune cells Refined in TimusThe organ in which some of the main cells of the immune system ripen. Shakaguchi agreed with this type of protection, known as central tolerance, But he believed that there was something else. In fact, he indicated the existence of concrete cells, which will act as Guards To stop these potentially dangerous cells, even if they managed to avoid thymus.
Soon after, in 2001, Branco and Ramsdell made another key conclusion. Watched a specific strain of the mouse that was Very vulnerable to autoimmune diseasesThe field, that is, for those diseases in which, finally, the immune system attacks some components of the body. Watching the mutated genes that can lead to this effect, they saw that everything could be connected with the genome that they called Foxp3The field not only identified the gene, but they found that when they took place in people, the same mutations led to a serious autoimmune disease IPEX.
How do two investigations join?
While two American scientists did not work with Shakaguchi when he knew about his conclusions, he discovered that the gene Foxp3 It contains instructions for the synthesis of cells that he discovered in 1995. Everything had a connection. These cells will be baptized later as regulatory T -cells.
Today we know that its function Continuously control the immune system And guarantee that their cells attack only potentially harmful agents, never on their own components of the body. If they discover that they can become against the agency, they are responsible for suppressing their actions so that they can not carry out the attack.
Why do these scientists deserve the Nobel Prize in medicine?
Thanks to the conclusions of these three scientists today The origin of autoimmune diseases is much better. This knowledge helped to develop Much more specific treatment methods. But they are not only useful for the treatment of these diseases. His study also helped to develop experimental methods of cancer treatment. Logically, this can guarantee more effective protocols to avoid refusal after the body transplant. Despite all this, these scientists were considered worthy of the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2025.
A woman who joins a very short list
While the Nobel Prize in Medicine is the one who won most women in scientific categories, they are still an overwhelming minority. So far they have just won the prize 14 womenIncluding Mary Branco. We were lucky. Will the strip continue with the Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry? We will find out soon.
Source: Hiper Textual
