Overview

• Karolinska Institute named Osaka University’s Shimon Sakaguchi and U.S. researchers Mary Blanckow and Fred Ramsdell the 2025 laureates for the discovery of peripheral immune tolerance.
• Sakaguchi identified and characterized regulatory T cells that restrain damaging self-attacks by the immune system.
• Blanckow and Ramsdell linked a severe autoimmune phenotype in a mouse strain to a mutation that impairs regulatory T-cell development, complementing Sakaguchi’s findings.
• The advances are guiding research into treatments for type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases, informing cancer immunology, and improving prospects for organ transplantation.
• At an Osaka press conference, Sakaguchi called the decision a pleasant surprise and expressed hopes for clinical translation, as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba issued a formal congratulatory statement; the ceremony is scheduled for December 10 in Stockholm with a SEK 11 million prize.