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This year's prestigious award in medical science has been granted for revolutionary findings that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three esteemed 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 rogue defense cells capable of harming the organism.

The findings are now enabling new therapies for immune disorders and malignancies.

The winners will share a prize fund valued at 11 million SEK.

Crucial Findings

"The research has been essential for understanding how the immune system functions and why we do not all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the award panel.

The team's research address a core question: How does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while keeping our own tissues intact?

The immune system employs white blood cells that scan for indicators of infection, including pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

Such defenders employ detectors—called receptors—that are produced randomly in countless variations.

That provides the defense network the ability to fight a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably produces white blood cells that may target the host.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers previously knew that a portion of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where immune cells mature.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to neutralize other defenders that assault the healthy cells.

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

A prize committee added, "These discoveries have established a new field of research and accelerated the development of new therapies, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from attacking the tumor, so studies are focused on reducing their numbers.

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer being harmed. A similar approach could also be useful in reducing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Pioneering Studies

Prof Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted tests on rodents that had their immune gland removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher demonstrated that introducing immune cells from other animals could prevent the illness—implying there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and people that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor vital for the way regulatory T-cells function.

"Their pioneering research has uncovered how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," commented a leading biological science specialist.

"This work is a remarkable example of how basic biological study can have far-reaching consequences for human health."