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This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine was granted for transformative discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while sparing the body's own cells.

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

The research identified unique "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells that could harming the organism.

These discoveries are now paving the way for new treatments for immune disorders and cancer.

These winners will share a prize fund worth 11 million SEK.

Crucial Findings

"The research has been decisive for understanding how the immune system functions and why we don't all develop serious autoimmune diseases," stated the chair of the award panel.

The trio's studies explain a fundamental question: How does the defense system defend us from countless infections while keeping our healthy cells intact?

The body's protection system uses white blood cells that search for indicators of disease, including pathogens and germs it has not met before.

Such cells employ detectors—known as recognition units—that are generated randomly in a vast number of combinations.

This gives the immune system 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.

Protectors of the Immune System

Scientists earlier understood that some of these harmful white blood cells were eliminated in the thymus—where immune cells develop.

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the body to disarm other defenders that assault the healthy cells.

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

A Nobel panel added, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and spurred the creation of new therapies, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, T-regs prevent the system from fighting the tumor, so research are focused on reducing their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, experiments are testing increasing T-reg cells so the organism is not under attack. A comparable approach could also be useful in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, conducted experiments on mice that had their immune gland extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.

He demonstrated that introducing defense cells from healthy mice could prevent the illness—implying there was a system for preventing immune cells from attacking the body.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were investigating an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and humans that led to the identification of a genetic factor vital for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their pioneering work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the body's own tissues," commented a leading biological science specialist.

"This research is a striking example of how fundamental physiological research can have far-reaching consequences for public health."