GPT-5 is now predicting experimental results to crack open immunology puzzles. On June 23, 2026, OpenAI shared how GPT-5 helped immunologist Derya Unutmaz solve a 3-year-old T cell mystery. The model identified N-linked glycosylation interference as the reason the glucose inhibitor 2-DG spiked inflammatory T cells, and it proposed a mannose rescue experiment whose result it predicted exactly. ASAP summarizes the announcement from the primary source.

GPT-5 cracks a 3-year-old T cell mystery

Immunologist Derya Unutmaz had spent 3 years unable to explain why a glucose inhibitor spiked inflammatory T cell subsets. On June 23, 2026, OpenAI described how GPT-5 worked through the puzzle. Unutmaz fed the model unpublished flow cytometry data, and the model returned not a single answer but a causal hypothesis paired with a test to confirm it.

The paradox the glucose inhibitor 2-DG created

The glucose inhibitor 2-DG (2-deoxyglucose) was expected to starve T cells of energy, yet it sharply increased inflammatory subsets instead. If it had only blocked energy, cell activity should have fallen, so the opposite result was the 3-year question. Unutmaz's lab had no mechanism that explained the paradox.

The mechanism GPT-5 identified: N-linked glycosylation interference

GPT-5 reasoned that 2-DG triggers N-linked glycosylation interference, disrupting the sugar chains on cell-surface receptors. The explanation is that the inhibitor is not merely starving the cells of energy but physically disturbing the sugar coatings on their receptors. The model moved past the metabolic assumption to a structural cause.

A predicted mannose rescue, and cancer and autoimmune uses

GPT-5 proposed a mannose rescue experiment to bypass the block, and it predicted exactly the result that Unutmaz's lab had already run but never published. The model also suggested applying the same mechanism to boost CAR-T cells' tumor-killing capacity in cancer therapy. The finding may give leads for autoimmune research as well.

Wrap-up

GPT-5 solved immunologist Derya Unutmaz's 3-year-old T cell mystery. Explaining the 2-DG paradox through N-linked glycosylation interference and predicting the mannose rescue result are the core. AI is moving from generating hypotheses to predicting experiments, speeding up scientific research.

Source: ASAP summary of OpenAI's "How GPT-5 helped immunologist Derya Unutmaz solve a 3-year-old mystery" (June 23, 2026; GPT-5 solved immunologist Derya Unutmaz's 3-year-old T cell mystery, the glucose inhibitor 2-DG spiked inflammatory T cells, the model proposed N-linked glycosylation interference, it predicted the mannose rescue result, and suggested cancer CAR-T and autoimmune applications).