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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2025 has been awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for their groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced on Monday.

The Nobel Committee said the trio’s work revealed how the body’s immune system distinguishes between foreign invaders and its own tissues, a discovery that has transformed the understanding of autoimmune diseases.

The laureates identified regulatory T cells—often called the immune system’s “security guards”—that prevent immune cells from attacking the body’s own tissues. “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 Kämpe, chair of the Nobel Committee.

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In 1995, at a time when scientists believed immune tolerance occurred mainly through a mechanism called central tolerance, Shimon Sakaguchi discovered a new class of immune cells that protect against autoimmune diseases.

Later, in 2011, Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell identified a gene—Foxp3—in a particular mouse strain that was highly prone to autoimmune disorders. They demonstrated that mutations in this gene also cause a severe autoimmune condition in humans, known as IPEX syndrome.

Two years later, Sakaguchi connected the dots by proving that Foxp3 controls the development of the very cells he had identified earlier—regulatory T cells. These cells help maintain immune balance by keeping self-reactive immune cells in check.

Mary E. Brunkow, who holds a doctorate from Princeton University, is Senior Program Manager at the Institute for Systems Biology, Seattle.

Fred Ramsdell serves as Scientific Advisor at Sonoma Biotherapeutics, USA.

Shimon Sakaguchi is a Distinguished Professor at the Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Japan.

The Nobel Prize in Medicine marks the start of Nobel announcement week. The Physics Prize will be announced on October 7, followed by Chemistry on October 8. The Literature, Peace, and Economic Sciences Prizes will be declared on October 9, 10, and 13, respectively.

Last year’s Medicine Nobel was awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for discovering microRNA and its role in gene regulation.

The Nobel Prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor (around $900,000) and will be formally presented on December 10—the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.

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Abhay Shukla

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