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The Nobel Prize in medical science was awarded for revolutionary findings that illuminate how the body's defense network targets harmful infections while sparing the body's own cells.

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

Their research uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells that could harming the organism.

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

The laureates will share a monetary award valued at 11m SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

"The work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and why we don't all develop severe autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the award panel.

This team's studies explain a core mystery: How does the defense system defend us from numerous invaders while keeping our own tissues intact?

The body's protection system uses white blood cells that scan for indicators of infection, even viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.

These cells utilize detectors—known as recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless combinations.

This gives the defense network the ability to fight a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the process inevitably produces white blood cells that can target the body.

Protectors of the Immune System

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

The latest award recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm any immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

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

A prize committee stated, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

In cancer, T-regs block the system from fighting the tumor, so research are aimed at lowering their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing increasing T-reg cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A similar approach could also be effective in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed experiments on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that injecting defense cells from other animals could stop the illness—implying there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the identification of a genetic factor vital for how regulatory T-cells function.

"Their groundbreaking work has revealed how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," said a prominent physiology specialist.

"This work is a remarkable example of how basic biological study can have broad implications for public health."