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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for transformative findings that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful infections while sparing the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned researchers—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.

The work uncovered specialized "security guards" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning immune cells capable of attacking the body.

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

The winners will divide a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Decisive Findings

"Their work has been essential for understanding how the immune system functions and the reason we don't all develop severe self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the award panel.

The trio's studies address a fundamental question: In what way does the defense system protect us from countless infections while keeping our healthy cells intact?

Our body's protection system uses white blood cells that search for signs of disease, even pathogens and bacteria it has not met before.

These cells employ detectors—called recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless combinations.

That provides the defense network the ability to fight a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably creates white blood cells that may target the body.

Security Guards of the Body

Researchers earlier understood that some of these problematic white blood cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where white blood cells mature.

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the body to disarm any defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

It is known that this process malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

The prize committee added, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and accelerated the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In cancer, T-regs prevent the system from fighting the growth, so studies are aimed at reducing their quantity.

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is not under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Pioneering Studies

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed tests on rodents that had their immune gland removed, causing self-attack conditions.

He showed that introducing defense cells from other mice could stop the disease—suggesting there was a system for preventing defenders from harming the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the a research center in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and people that led to the identification of a genetic factor critical for how T-regs function.

"The groundbreaking research has revealed how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly attacking the body's own tissues," said a prominent physiology expert.

"The work is a striking illustration of how basic biological study can have broad implications for human health."