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The prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks dangerous infections while protecting the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned scientists—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this accolade.

Their work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue immune cells capable of attacking the organism.

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

The laureates will divide a prize fund worth 11 million Swedish kronor.

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses functions and the reason we don't all develop serious self-attack conditions," stated the head of the award panel.

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

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

These cells employ sensors—called recognition units—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

That gives the defense network the capacity to combat a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the process inevitably produces white blood cells that may target the body.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers earlier understood that some of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the thymus—the site where white blood cells mature.

The latest Nobel Prize honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the system to neutralize other immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

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

A prize committee stated, "These findings have established a novel area of investigation and spurred the development of innovative therapies, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the body from fighting the growth, so research are focused on lowering their quantity.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the body is not being harmed. A similar approach could also be effective in reducing the risks of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Studies

Professor Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed experiments on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, causing self-attack conditions.

The researcher showed that introducing defense cells from other animals could prevent the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking 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 rodents and people that led to the discovery of a gene vital for how T-regs function.

"The pioneering work has revealed how the body's defenses is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," said a leading physiology specialist.

"This work is a striking illustration of how basic physiological research can have broad implications for public health."