Overview

• The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute named Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi the 2025 laureates on October 6 for work explaining how the body’s defenses are kept in check.
• Sakaguchi identified regulatory T cells in 1995, revealing a dedicated cell population that suppresses damaging immune responses against the body’s own tissues.
• Brunkow and Ramsdell established in 2001 that the FOXP3 gene is essential for regulatory T cell development and that its mutation triggers severe autoimmunity, including IPEX in humans.
• Translational efforts stemming from these findings have produced multiple therapies now being evaluated in clinical trials targeting autoimmunity, transplant outcomes and cancer.
• The winners are affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology (Brunkow), Sonoma Biotherapeutics (Ramsdell) and Osaka University (Sakaguchi), and will share 11 million SEK at the December 10 ceremony in Stockholm.