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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for revolutionary findings that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks harmful infections while sparing the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

Their research identified specialized "security guards" within the defense system that remove rogue immune cells capable of attacking the organism.

The discoveries are now paving the way for new treatments for immune disorders and malignancies.

The laureates will divide a prize fund worth 11 million SEK.

Decisive Findings

"The work has been essential for comprehending how the body's defenses operates and why we do not all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the award panel.

This team's studies explain a core question: In what way does the defense system defend us from numerous invaders while keeping our healthy cells intact?

Our immune system uses immune cells that search for indicators of disease, even viruses and bacteria it has not met before.

Such cells utilize detectors—known as recognition units—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

This gives the defense network the ability to fight a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably produces immune cells that may attack the body.

Security Guards of the Body

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

This year's award honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to neutralize other immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

The Nobel panel stated, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and accelerated the creation of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In cancer, regulatory T-cells block the system from fighting the tumor, so research are focused on lowering their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer under attack. A similar approach could also be useful in reducing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Experiments

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, performed tests on rodents that had their thymus removed, causing autoimmune disease.

He demonstrated that injecting defense cells from healthy animals could stop the disease—suggesting there was a mechanism for preventing immune cells from harming the host.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that resulted in the identification of a gene vital for how regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their groundbreaking research has uncovered how the body's defenses is kept in check by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," commented a prominent biological science specialist.

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