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This year's Nobel Prize in medical science was granted for transformative discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network targets dangerous infections while sparing the healthy tissues.

Three renowned scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this accolade.

Their work identified specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning defense cells that could attacking the organism.

The findings are now enabling new therapies for immune disorders and malignancies.

These winners will share a monetary award valued at 11m SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

"Their work has been decisive for understanding how the immune system functions and why we don't all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the award panel.

The trio's studies explain a fundamental mystery: In what way does the immune system protect us from numerous invaders while leaving our own tissues intact?

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

These cells utilize detectors—called receptors—that are generated by chance in a vast number of combinations.

That provides the immune system the capacity to combat a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the process unavoidably produces white blood cells that may target the host.

Security Guards of the Body

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

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to neutralize any defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

We know that this process malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.

A Nobel panel stated, "These findings have laid the foundation for a novel area of investigation and accelerated the creation of new therapies, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the body from attacking the tumor, so studies are focused on reducing their numbers.

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

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted experiments on mice that had their immune gland extracted, causing self-attack conditions.

The researcher demonstrated that injecting defense cells from other mice could stop the disease—implying there was a system for blocking defenders from harming the host.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the discovery of a genetic factor critical for the way T-regs operate.

"The pioneering research has uncovered how the body's defenses is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science expert.

"This research is a remarkable example of how fundamental physiological study can have far-reaching implications for public health."