Nobel Prize in Medicine

Nobel Prize in Medicine 2025: Keeping the Immune System in Balance


This year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine goes to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for discoveries that help explain one of biology’s most delicate balancing acts — how the immune system defends us without turning on the body itself.


Their research uncovered how certain immune cells, known as regulatory T cells, act as peacekeepers, preventing the immune system from attacking healthy tissue. The key was a gene called FOXP3, which proved to be essential for these cells to function properly.


That finding reshaped how scientists understand autoimmune disease — and opened up new possibilities for treating conditions like type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and lupus. It’s also changing how doctors think about cancer, where easing up on these “brakes” can sometimes help the immune system fight tumors more effectively.


The Nobel Committee described their work as revealing how the body “preserves harmony within its own defenses” — a poetic reminder that good health depends as much on restraint as on resistance.


What makes the 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine so important is that it captures a shift in how we understand the immune system. For decades, medicine focused on how to boost immunity — vaccines, antibodies, anti-cancer drugs. Brunkow, Ramsdell, and Sakaguchi showed that health also depends on knowing when to hold the immune system back.


In short, their discovery reframes medicine’s biggest challenge: how to fine-tune the immune system rather than simply switch it on or off.
As one immunologist put it, “They didn’t just find a new gene — they found the language the immune system uses to make peace with itself.”




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