Marta Vives-Pi
Head of the Diabetes Immunology Group at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute (IGTP, Badalona) and associate professor of Immunology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona
The 2025 Nobel Prize in Medicine has been awarded to Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Shimon Sakaguchi for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance. In my opinion, this is a wise decision: recognizing an advancement that allows us to understand the fundamental mechanisms of the immune system and its impact on the development of new therapies.
The winners have revealed how certain cells, called regulatory T cells, maintain immune balance, preventing the body from attacking its own tissues. These findings have been key in the development of immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases, which affect a significant percentage of the population. Identifying how regulatory T cells act as “guardians” of the body opens the door to more precise and less invasive therapies.
This is an example of how basic science, sometimes invisible to the general public, can translate into concrete advances that improve the health of millions of people. It is a reminder that fundamental research is the seed of the treatments that will save lives tomorrow.