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The Nobel Prize in medical science was awarded for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network targets harmful infections while sparing the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this accolade.

The work identified specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that remove malfunctioning defense cells capable of attacking the body.

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

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

Decisive Findings

"Their research has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and why we do not all suffer from severe self-attack conditions," stated the head of the Nobel Committee.

The team's studies address a core mystery: In what way does the defense system defend us from countless invaders while leaving our own tissues intact?

Our body's protection system employs white blood cells that scan for indicators of infection, including pathogens and bacteria it has not met before.

Such defenders employ sensors—called receptors—that are generated randomly in a vast number of combinations.

This provides the defense network the capacity to fight a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism unavoidably creates white blood cells that can attack the body.

Protectors of the Immune System

Scientists previously knew that a portion of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where immune cells develop.

This year's Nobel Prize honors the identification of T-reg cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the body to neutralize any immune cells that attack the body's own tissues.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.

The Nobel panel added, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and spurred the development of new therapies, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

In cancer, T-regs block the system from fighting the tumor, so research are aimed at reducing their numbers.

In autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable approach could also be effective in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Pioneering Studies

Prof Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed tests on rodents that had their thymus extracted, causing autoimmune disease.

He showed that introducing defense cells from other mice could prevent the illness—suggesting there was a mechanism for preventing immune cells from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the discovery of a genetic factor critical for how T-regs function.

"Their pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," commented a leading physiology specialist.

"The research is a striking illustration of how fundamental physiological research can have far-reaching consequences for public health."