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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks dangerous pathogens while sparing the healthy tissues.

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

The research identified specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate rogue immune cells capable of harming the body.

These discoveries are now paving the way for innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

The winners will divide a prize fund worth 11m SEK.

Decisive Findings

"Their work has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we don't all develop severe self-attack conditions," stated the head of the Nobel Committee.

This team's research address a fundamental question: In what way does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while keeping our healthy cells intact?

Our body's protection system uses white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, including viruses and germs it has never encountered.

Such defenders utilize detectors—known as receptors—that are generated by chance in countless combinations.

That provides the immune system the ability to combat a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism unavoidably produces immune cells that can target the host.

Security Guards of the Body

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

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the system to neutralize other immune cells that attack the body's own tissues.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.

The prize committee added, "The discoveries have established a new field of research and accelerated the creation of innovative therapies, for example for tumors and immune disorders."

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

For self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Studies

Professor Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted experiments on mice that had their immune gland extracted, leading to self-attack conditions.

He showed that introducing immune cells from other animals could stop the disease—implying there was a system for preventing immune cells from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and humans that resulted in the identification of a genetic factor critical for how T-regs operate.

"The groundbreaking work has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science specialist.

"This work is a striking illustration of how fundamental physiological research can have far-reaching implications for human health."