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This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for transformative findings that clarify how the immune system attacks harmful pathogens while sparing the body's own cells.

Three esteemed scientists—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

The research uncovered specialized "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate rogue defense cells that could harming the body.

These findings are now enabling innovative treatments for immune disorders and malignancies.

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

Decisive Discoveries

"The work has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we don't all develop severe autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the award panel.

This team's studies explain a core question: In what way does the immune system defend us from countless infections while leaving our healthy cells intact?

The body's protection system employs immune cells that scan for signs of disease, including viruses and germs it has never encountered.

These defenders employ detectors—called recognition units—that are generated randomly in countless variations.

This provides the defense network the ability to fight a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably creates white blood cells that can target the body.

Security Guards of the Body

Researchers previously understood that some of these problematic white blood cells were destroyed in the thymus—where immune cells develop.

This year's award honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the body to neutralize any defenders that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this process malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A Nobel panel added, "The findings have laid the foundation for a novel area of investigation and accelerated the creation of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and immune disorders."

In cancer, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from attacking the tumor, so research are aimed at reducing their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer under attack. A comparable approach could also be effective in reducing the risks of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted tests on mice that had their immune gland extracted, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher demonstrated that injecting defense cells from healthy mice could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the identification of a genetic factor vital for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their pioneering work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent physiology expert.

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