Unraveling the Immune System's 'Security Guards' - Regulatory T Cells
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: General Science (Biology - Human Immune System, T-cells, Genes, Autoimmune diseases); Current events of national and international importance (Nobel Prizes).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 3 (S&T): Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life; Awareness in the fields of Bio-technology.
Key Highlights from the News
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 2025 was awarded to Mary Brankov, Fred Ramsdell (USA), and Shimon Sakaguchi (Japan).
The award recognizes their discovery of "peripheral immune tolerance," a crucial mechanism that protects the body's immune system from attacking its own cells.
Timeline of Discoveries:
Shimon Sakaguchi (1995): Discovered a new type of T-cells, called Regulatory T cells (Tregs), which control the immune system.
Brankov, Ramsdell (2001): Identified the Foxp3 gene, which is essential for the function of Tregs. They proved that defects in this gene cause the severe autoimmune disease IPEX.
Later, Sakaguchi proved that the Foxp3 gene regulates the function of Tregs, thus uniting these two discoveries.
Importance of this Discovery:
This discovery paved the way for developing new treatment methods for autoimmune diseases, cancer, and organ transplantation.
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