Nordic Life Science 1
MEDICINE // SHIMON SAKAGUCHI “I was somehow influ
enced by that environment: Thinking about the “self”, the “non-self”, or even about concepts like tolerance, or the immune system and how it does good and bad things – I liked those kinds of existential questions. That was another influence I carried with me from my family.” can expect a higher rate of cure or treatment efficacy in a broader spectrum of cancers,” Sakaguchi says. H NLS e also explains that a great deal can be done to limit cancer metastasis, which currently causes 90 percent of cancer deaths. “I think that the next cancer immunotherapy will be focused on the early stage of cancers. If just after you have a cancer diagnosis, you start to somehow augment the immune responses against your cancer cells – just by reducing Tregs a bit – then you can prevent 90 percent of cancer metastasis. That would be a tremendous advancement in cancer immunotherapy,” says Sakaguchi. On the flipside of the coin there is research into how to suppress immune responses in immunological diseases. “Treg cell therapy is currently underway in various places around the world. As is research into how we can expand Tregs in vivo within our body, through treatments with certain cytokines or some drugs – and that kind of approach will advance in the future. Many pharmaceutical companies are very interested in the next generation of immunosuppressive drugs, which may be targeting Tregs,” Shimon Sakaguchi concludes. Shimon Sakaguchi NORDICLIFESCIENCE.ORG | 43 PHOTO AKIRA FUJIKAWA