The Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet has awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine to Drs. Mary E. Brunkow (Institute for Systems Biology), Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi.
The trio was recognized for discoveries that revealed how the immune system achieves peripheral immune tolerance – including identifying regulatory T cells (Tregs) and the central role of the FOXP3 gene in their development and function. Their work reshaped modern immunology and opened new paths in autoimmune disease, transplantation, and cancer immunotherapy.
The researchers’ foundational discoveries answered a century-old riddle: Why doesn’t the immune system attack the body’s own tissues? Brunkow and colleagues established FOXP3 as the molecular key to regulatory T cells, the gatekeepers that temper immune responses and prevent self-destruction.
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