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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network targets harmful infections while protecting the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.

The work uncovered unique "security guards" within the defense system that remove malfunctioning defense cells capable of harming the organism.

These findings are now enabling new therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

These laureates will divide a prize fund worth 11m SEK.

Crucial Findings

"The work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses functions and why we don't all develop severe self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the award panel.

The trio's studies address a fundamental mystery: In what way does the defense system protect us from numerous invaders while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

Our immune system employs immune cells that scan for signs of infection, even pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

Such defenders employ sensors—known as receptors—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

This gives the immune system the ability to fight a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably creates immune cells that can attack the body.

Protectors of the Immune System

Scientists earlier understood that some of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—where white blood cells develop.

This year's Nobel Prize honors the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the system to disarm other defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

It is known that this process fails in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

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

In malignancies, T-regs prevent the system from attacking the growth, so studies are focused on lowering their quantity.

In autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer under attack. A similar method could also be effective in reducing the risks of organ transplant failure.

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted experiments on mice that had their immune gland removed, causing autoimmune disease.

He showed that injecting defense cells from healthy mice could prevent the illness—suggesting there was a system for blocking immune cells from attacking the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and people that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor vital for the way T-regs operate.

"Their groundbreaking research has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," commented a leading physiology specialist.

"This research is a striking example of how basic physiological study can have far-reaching consequences for public health."