US-Japanese trio win medicine Nobel for immune system research

Stockholm: Mary E. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell of the United States and Japan s Shimon Sakaguchi won the Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday for research...

Stockholm: Mary E. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell of the United States and Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi won the Nobel Prize in Medicine on Monday for research into how the immune system is kept in check, the Nobel jury said.

Their discoveries have been decisive for understanding how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases.

The three were honoured "for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance", the jury said.

"Their discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of new treatments, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases," it added.

Their findings may also lead to more successful transplantations.