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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the immune system targets harmful pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned scientists—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

Their research identified unique "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells that could attacking the body.

These discoveries are now paving the way for innovative treatments for immune disorders and cancer.

These winners will share a prize fund worth 11m SEK.

Decisive Findings

"The work has been essential for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we don't all develop serious self-attack conditions," commented the head of the award panel.

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

Our immune system uses immune cells that scan for signs of infection, including viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such cells utilize detectors—called receptors—that are produced randomly in countless combinations.

That gives the immune system the capacity to fight a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably creates white blood cells that can target the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Researchers previously understood that some of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where immune cells mature.

This year's Nobel Prize honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to neutralize other defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

It is known that this mechanism fails in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.

The prize committee added, "These findings have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and spurred the creation of new therapies, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, T-regs prevent the body from attacking the tumor, so research are focused on lowering their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, trials are testing boosting T-reg cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A similar method could also be useful in minimizing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Studies

Professor Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, performed experiments on mice that had their thymus extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.

He showed that introducing immune cells from healthy animals could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a system for preventing immune cells from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the a research center in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an genetic immune disorder in rodents and people that led to the discovery of a gene critical for how T-regs operate.

"The groundbreaking research has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent physiology expert.

"The work is a remarkable example of how basic biological study can have far-reaching implications for public health."