In a mini review in Pflügers Archiv - European Journal of Physiology, Anna Estrada Brull and Nicole Joller (Joller Lab, DQBM) celebrate the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine awarded to Mary Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for uncovering regulatory T cells and peripheral immune tolerance. The authors recount key milestones from the identification of CD25⁺ CD4⁺ suppressor T cells and FOXP3 mutations in scurfy mice and IPEX patients to the recognition of Foxp3 as the master regulator of Treg cells, illustrated in a historical timeline on page 3.
They then review how Treg cells maintain immune balance through IL 2 consumption, co inhibitory receptors and immunosuppressive cytokines, and how these mechanisms inspire emerging Treg based therapies, including engineered TCR and CAR Treg cells, IL 2 pathway modulation and selective Treg depletion, summarized in the schematic on page 4.