The 2025 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine could not have come at a more relevant time for India. The award—to American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell, and Japanese immunologist Shimon Sakaguchi—recognises their discovery of regulatory T cells and the gene Foxp3, the body’s own system for keeping immune response under control. These ‘peacekeeping’ cells prevent the immune system from attacking the body’s own tissues.
This breakthrough holds special meaning for India, where doctors have reported a sharp rise in autoimmune conditions since the Covid-19 pandemic. Diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, Type 1 diabetes, and inflammatory bowel disease are becoming more common. A 2024 study published in the International Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Research found a surge in antinuclear antibody positivity after Covid-19, suggesting the virus may have unsettled the body’s immune balance. Women and older adults appear especially vulnerable.
India has begun to take note. The Union health ministry has issued guidelines for monitoring post-Covid complications and urged doctors to watch for immune-related disorders. Laboratories are improving early detection, and some research centres are exploring cancer therapies, such as CAR-T cell treatment, to address autoimmune diseases.
The Nobel-winning work now provides a scientific foundation for these efforts. Understanding how regulatory T cells work can help doctors learn to strengthen them in patients whose immune systems have chronically turned against their own bodies. For conditions like arthritis or diabetes, boosting these cells could reduce inflammation and protect healthy tissues. For cancer, the same knowledge could help in the opposite way—by easing the immune system’s brakes so it can attack tumours more effectively.
India must now augment research budgets. The Indian Council of Medical Research should invest in studies that apply this discovery to local health challenges. Training programmes in clinical immunology must expand. Hospitals need better testing infrastructure, especially outside big cities. Most importantly, patients should be made aware that persistent fatigue, unexplained joint pain, or rashes may point to autoimmune problems—where the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues—that can be treated if caught early. The Nobel has shown how understanding the body’s quiet protectors could change medicine. India must turn that knowledge into care that reaches everyone who needs it.
