Nobel Prize for work in immunology/T cells Exce
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Posted On: 10/06/2025 1:50:38 PM
Nobel Prize for work in immunology/T cells
Excerpt: ...After years of arduous work, the two researchers found the gene, called FOXP3. I t resembled others that control other genes. And, in 2001, they reported that a rare autoimmune disease in humans called IPEX was the same as the disease in mice.
Without FOXP3, regulatory T cells do not form. The body does not make T cells that tell other T cells that can attack the body’s cells not to respond.
“This is a great recognition of the fundamental importance of distinguishing self from non-self,” said John Wherry, director of the Colton Center for Autoimmunity at the University of Pennsylvania.
Cancers block attacks from the immune system by attracting a thicket of regulatory T cells. With the FOXP3 gene identified, and its role understood, researchers can develop drugs to turn the immune system against these cancer cells.
With autoimmune diseases, there is the opposite problem. Regulatory T cells are missing or defective. Using FOXP3 as a starting point, researchers are developing drugs to teach the immune system to stop its attack.
Dr. Marcela Maus, director of the cellular immunotherapy program at Massachusetts General Hospital, said the work “holds tremendous potential for unlocking new therapeutic avenues in medicine.”
“The holy grail has been to be able to manipulate and control immunity versus tolerance," Dr. Maus said. “The work of these laureates unlocked the tolerance side of this equation.”
With the discoveries, Dr. Wherry said, “major sets of drugs are going into the clinic,” for preliminary testing in cancer and autoimmunity.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/health/nob...ology.html
Excerpt: ...After years of arduous work, the two researchers found the gene, called FOXP3. I t resembled others that control other genes. And, in 2001, they reported that a rare autoimmune disease in humans called IPEX was the same as the disease in mice.
Without FOXP3, regulatory T cells do not form. The body does not make T cells that tell other T cells that can attack the body’s cells not to respond.
“This is a great recognition of the fundamental importance of distinguishing self from non-self,” said John Wherry, director of the Colton Center for Autoimmunity at the University of Pennsylvania.
Cancers block attacks from the immune system by attracting a thicket of regulatory T cells. With the FOXP3 gene identified, and its role understood, researchers can develop drugs to turn the immune system against these cancer cells.
With autoimmune diseases, there is the opposite problem. Regulatory T cells are missing or defective. Using FOXP3 as a starting point, researchers are developing drugs to teach the immune system to stop its attack.
Dr. Marcela Maus, director of the cellular immunotherapy program at Massachusetts General Hospital, said the work “holds tremendous potential for unlocking new therapeutic avenues in medicine.”
“The holy grail has been to be able to manipulate and control immunity versus tolerance," Dr. Maus said. “The work of these laureates unlocked the tolerance side of this equation.”
With the discoveries, Dr. Wherry said, “major sets of drugs are going into the clinic,” for preliminary testing in cancer and autoimmunity.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/health/nob...ology.html
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