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The prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the immune system targets dangerous pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

The work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning defense cells capable of attacking the organism.

The discoveries are now enabling new treatments for immune disorders and malignancies.

The laureates will share a prize fund worth 11m SEK.

Crucial Findings

"The work has been essential for understanding how the immune system operates and why we do not all suffer from severe self-attack conditions," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's research address a fundamental mystery: In what way does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells intact?

Our body's protection system uses white blood cells that search for signs of disease, even pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

These cells employ sensors—called receptors—that are produced by chance in a vast number of variations.

That provides the defense network the ability to combat a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably produces white blood cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Body

Scientists earlier knew that a portion of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where immune cells mature.

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the body to neutralize other defenders that attack the healthy cells.

It is known that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A Nobel panel stated, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and accelerated the development of new treatments, for example for tumors and immune disorders."

Regarding malignancies, T-regs prevent the body from fighting the growth, so studies are focused on reducing their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is not being harmed. A similar approach could also be effective in reducing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Studies

Professor Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted experiments on rodents that had their thymus removed, causing autoimmune disease.

He showed that injecting defense cells from healthy mice could stop the illness—implying there was a mechanism for preventing immune cells from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were investigating an genetic immune disorder in mice and humans that led to the identification of a genetic factor vital for the way T-regs operate.

"The groundbreaking research has revealed how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly attacking the body's own tissues," said a leading physiology expert.

"This work is a striking example of how basic biological research can have far-reaching implications for public health."