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This year's prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network targets dangerous pathogens while sparing the healthy tissues.

A trio of esteemed researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this accolade.

The research identified specialized "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells capable of harming the body.

These discoveries are now paving the way for new therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

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

Decisive Findings

"Their research has been decisive for understanding how the immune system functions and why we don't all develop severe self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

This team's studies explain a core question: In what way does the immune system protect us from numerous infections while leaving our own tissues intact?

Our immune system employs white blood cells that scan for signs of infection, including pathogens and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such cells employ detectors—called recognition units—that are produced randomly in a vast number of combinations.

That provides the defense network the capacity to combat a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the process unavoidably creates immune cells that may target the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists previously understood that a portion of these harmful defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—the site where white blood cells develop.

This year's award honors the discovery of T-reg cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the body to disarm any defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

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

The prize committee stated, "These discoveries have established a novel area of investigation and accelerated the creation of new therapies, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

Regarding cancer, T-regs prevent the body from attacking the growth, so research are focused on lowering their numbers.

In autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the organism is not being harmed. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Experiments

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

He showed that introducing defense cells from other mice could prevent the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were studying an inherited immune disorder in rodents and humans that led to the identification 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 regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the healthy cells," said a leading biological science expert.

"This work is a striking example of how basic biological research can have broad implications for human health."