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This year's Nobel Prize in medical science has been granted for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network targets dangerous infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this honor.

The research identified specialized "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells capable of harming the body.

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

These laureates will share a prize fund worth 11m SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

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

This team's studies explain a core mystery: How does the immune system protect us from numerous invaders while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

Our immune system uses white blood cells that search for indicators of infection, even viruses and germs it has not met before.

These cells utilize detectors—called receptors—that are produced randomly in a vast number of combinations.

That provides the immune system the ability to fight a broad range of threats, but the randomness of the process inevitably produces immune cells that may attack the host.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers previously understood that some of these harmful white blood cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where white blood cells develop.

The latest award recognizes the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the body to neutralize any immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The prize committee added, "These findings have established a new field of investigation and accelerated the development of new therapies, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

In malignancies, T-regs prevent the body from fighting the tumor, so studies are aimed at lowering their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, conducted experiments on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, leading to self-attack conditions.

He showed that introducing immune cells from healthy mice could prevent the illness—implying there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and people that led to the discovery of a genetic factor critical for how T-regs operate.

"The pioneering research has uncovered how the body's defenses is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from accidentally attacking the body's own tissues," commented a prominent physiology specialist.

"This work is a striking example of how basic physiological study can have broad consequences for public health."