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This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for revolutionary findings that clarify how the body's defense network targets dangerous infections while protecting the body's own cells.

Three esteemed scientists—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this accolade.

The work uncovered unique "security guards" within the immune system that remove rogue immune cells that could harming the body.

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

The winners will divide a prize fund valued at 11 million SEK.

Decisive Findings

"The research has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and the reason we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases," stated the chair of the award panel.

This trio's studies explain a fundamental question: How does the immune system protect us from numerous invaders while keeping our own tissues intact?

The body's protection system uses immune cells that search for signs of infection, including viruses and bacteria it has not met before.

Such cells utilize detectors—called recognition units—that are generated by chance in a vast number of variations.

This provides the defense network the ability to combat a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Researchers previously knew that some of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—where white blood cells mature.

The latest award recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the system to disarm other immune cells that attack the body's own tissues.

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

The prize committee added, "These findings have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of new treatments, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the body from fighting the tumor, so studies are aimed at lowering their quantity.

For self-attack disorders, trials are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is not being harmed. A comparable approach could also be effective in reducing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.

Pioneering Studies

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted tests on rodents that had their thymus extracted, causing self-attack conditions.

The researcher demonstrated that introducing defense cells from healthy animals could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a system for preventing immune cells from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were studying an inherited immune disorder in rodents and people that resulted in the identification of a gene vital for the way T-regs operate.

"The pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," said a leading biological science specialist.

"This work is a striking illustration of how fundamental biological study can have far-reaching consequences for public health."