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The Nobel Prize in medical science has been awarded for transformative discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network targets dangerous infections while protecting the body's own cells.

Three esteemed scientists—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their work identified unique "security guards" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells that could harming the body.

These discoveries are now enabling innovative treatments for immune disorders and malignancies.

The laureates will share a prize fund valued at 11 million SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious self-attack conditions," stated the head of the Nobel Committee.

This trio's research address a fundamental question: In what way does the immune system defend us from numerous infections while leaving our own tissues intact?

The immune system uses immune cells that scan for signs of infection, even pathogens and germs it has not met before.

Such cells employ detectors—called recognition units—that are generated randomly in countless variations.

That provides the immune system the ability to combat a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably creates white blood cells that may attack the body.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers previously understood that some of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—where white blood cells develop.

This year's award honors the identification of T-reg cells—described as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to neutralize other defenders that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A prize committee added, "These findings have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and spurred the creation of new therapies, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, T-regs block the system from attacking the growth, so research are aimed at reducing their quantity.

For self-attack disorders, experiments are testing increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be effective in minimizing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed experiments on mice that had their immune gland removed, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher demonstrated that introducing immune cells from healthy animals could prevent the illness—suggesting there was a system for blocking defenders from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in rodents and humans that resulted in the identification of a gene vital for the way T-regs operate.

"Their groundbreaking work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," commented a leading physiology expert.

"This research is a striking example of how basic physiological study can have broad implications for human health."