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The prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for transformative findings that clarify how the immune system targets dangerous pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their work uncovered specialized "security guards" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning defense cells that could attacking the body.

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

These winners will share a prize fund valued at 11 million SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been decisive for comprehending how the body's defenses functions and why we do not all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

This trio's studies explain a fundamental question: In what way does the immune system protect us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells intact?

Our immune system uses white blood cells that search for signs of disease, including viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such defenders employ sensors—called receptors—that are produced randomly in countless variations.

That provides the defense network the ability to combat a wide array of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that can target the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists previously understood that a portion of these harmful white blood cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where immune cells develop.

This year's award honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the body to disarm any immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

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

The Nobel panel added, "These findings have established a new field of research and accelerated the development of innovative treatments, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells block the body from attacking the growth, so research are focused on reducing their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, trials are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Studies

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed experiments on rodents that had their thymus extracted, leading to self-attack conditions.

He showed that injecting defense cells from healthy animals could stop the disease—implying there was a mechanism for preventing immune cells from attacking the body.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that led to the identification of a gene critical for the way regulatory T-cells function.

"The groundbreaking work has uncovered how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," commented a leading physiology expert.

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