"In 2001, Ramsdell and Brunkow made a key discovery while studying a mouse strain prone to autoimmune disease. Together, the researchers found that mice possessed a mutation of a gene they named "Foxp3," which they compared to the mutations in the human version of the same gene, which caused a severe autoimmune disorder known as IPEX. Two years later, Sakaguchi demonstrated that Foxp3 played a key role in producing a class of immune cells he had first identified in 1995."
"Fred Ramsdell, 64, a scientific adviser for Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco and an alumnus of UCLA, shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Mary Brunkow of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi of Osaka University in Japan. The trio were honored for their work uncovering how the body's immune system keeps itself in check, also known as peripheral immune tolerance."
Fred Ramsdell, Mary Brunkow and Shimon Sakaguchi received the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for uncovering mechanisms of peripheral immune tolerance. In 2001 Ramsdell and Brunkow identified a mutation in a gene named "Foxp3" in autoimmune-prone mice and linked analogous human mutations to the severe IPEX disorder. Sakaguchi demonstrated that Foxp3 is essential for generating regulatory T cells that prevent immune attacks on healthy tissues. Those regulatory T cells act as internal monitors that maintain immune balance. The discoveries launched the field of peripheral tolerance and have spurred development of treatments now in clinical trials.
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