3 awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for their research into peripheral immune tolerance

By Esra Tekin and Gizem Nisa Demir

ISTANBUL (AA) - The 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell from the US, and Shimon Sakaguchi from Japan for their discoveries in the field of peripheral immune tolerance, which hold promise for more effective treatments of autoimmune diseases and cancer, on Monday.

The announcement was made at a press conference held at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.

Brunkow, Ramsdell, and Sakaguchi received the award for their discoveries related to the mechanism of peripheral immune tolerance, which prevents the immune system from attacking the body’s own tissues.

The immune system normally detects and eliminates microbes using T cells, but some T cells may mistakenly target the body’s own proteins, leading to autoimmune diseases.

Through genetic studies on mice with autoimmune conditions, the researchers identified the Foxp3 gene as critical for the function of regulatory T cells that suppress harmful immune responses.

The same gene was also found to be linked to a rare immune disorder in humans called IPEX syndrome.

Their discoveries have enabled the development of potential medical therapies currently undergoing clinical trials.

Thanks to these findings, there is hope for preventing serious complications after stem cell transplants, discovering more effective cancer treatments, and developing cures for autoimmune diseases.

In 2024, the Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun from the US for their discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.

To date, 115 Nobel Prizes in Medicine have been awarded, and no individual has won it twice.

The youngest recipient was 31, and the oldest was 87.