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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was granted for revolutionary findings that illuminate how the immune system attacks harmful infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

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

The work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the defense system that remove malfunctioning immune cells capable of harming the body.

The discoveries are now enabling innovative therapies for immune disorders and malignancies.

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

Decisive Findings

"Their work has been essential for comprehending how the body's defenses functions and the reason we don't all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the award panel.

The team's studies explain a fundamental mystery: How does the immune system defend us from numerous infections while leaving our healthy cells intact?

The immune system employs white blood cells that search for indicators of infection, including viruses and germs it has not met before.

Such cells utilize sensors—known as recognition units—that are produced randomly in a vast number of variations.

That provides the defense network the ability to fight a broad range of threats, but the randomness of the process unavoidably produces white blood cells that may attack the host.

Protectors of the Body

Scientists previously knew that a portion of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the immune organ—where immune cells mature.

This year's award honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the system to neutralize other immune cells that assault the body's own tissues.

It is known that this mechanism malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A Nobel panel added, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and accelerated the development of innovative therapies, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

Regarding cancer, regulatory T-cells block the system from fighting the growth, so studies are aimed at lowering their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, trials are testing increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is not being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed experiments on rodents that had their immune gland removed, leading to self-attack conditions.

The researcher demonstrated that injecting immune cells from other mice could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a system for preventing defenders from attacking the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were studying an genetic immune disorder in mice and people that led to the discovery of a gene critical for how T-regs operate.

"The pioneering work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," commented a prominent physiology specialist.

"This work is a remarkable example of how fundamental biological research can have far-reaching consequences for public health."