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The prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for transformative discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network attacks dangerous infections while sparing the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned scientists—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this accolade.

The research identified specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning immune cells that could harming the body.

These discoveries are now paving the way for new treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

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

Decisive Discoveries

"Their research has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses operates and why we don't all suffer from severe autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

This team's research address a core mystery: How does the defense system defend us from numerous infections while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

Our immune system uses white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, even pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

Such cells utilize sensors—known as recognition units—that are produced randomly in a vast number of variations.

That gives the immune system the ability to combat a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that may target the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists earlier knew that a portion of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where white blood cells develop.

The latest award recognizes the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm other immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this process fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.

The Nobel panel added, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and immune disorders."

Regarding malignancies, T-regs block the system from attacking the tumor, so studies are aimed at lowering their quantity.

For self-attack disorders, trials are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant failure.

Innovative Experiments

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, conducted tests on rodents that had their thymus removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that injecting defense cells from other mice could prevent the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the body.

Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an inherited immune disorder in mice and humans that led to the identification of a gene vital for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"The groundbreaking research has uncovered how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally attacking the body's own tissues," said a prominent biological science specialist.

"This research is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental biological study can have broad consequences for human health."