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The Nobel Prize in medical science has been awarded for transformative findings that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while sparing the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this accolade.

Their research identified specialized "security guards" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells that could attacking the body.

These findings are now paving the way for innovative treatments for immune disorders and malignancies.

These winners will divide a prize fund valued at 11 million SEK.

Crucial Findings

"The research has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses operates and why we do not all suffer from severe self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

This trio's studies address a fundamental mystery: How does the defense system protect us from numerous invaders while keeping our healthy cells intact?

Our body's protection system employs immune cells that search for signs of disease, including viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such defenders employ sensors—called recognition units—that are generated randomly in countless combinations.

This provides the immune system the capacity to combat a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that can target the body.

Security Guards of the Body

Researchers earlier understood that a portion of these harmful white blood cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where immune cells mature.

This year's award recognizes the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the system to neutralize any defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

We know that this process malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A Nobel panel added, "The discoveries have established a new field of investigation and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In cancer, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from attacking the growth, so research are focused on lowering their quantity.

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the body is not under attack. A similar approach could also be useful in reducing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed experiments on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.

He demonstrated that introducing immune cells from other mice could stop the illness—suggesting there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from attacking the body.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the discovery of a gene critical for how T-regs function.

"The pioneering research has revealed how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," commented a leading physiology specialist.

"This work is a striking example of how basic biological study can have broad implications for public health."