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

A trio of esteemed scientists—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this honor.

Their work uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells that could harming the organism.

The discoveries are now enabling innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

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

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and the reason we don't all develop serious self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.

This team's studies explain a fundamental question: How does the defense system defend us from numerous infections while leaving our own tissues intact?

The immune system employs white blood cells that search for signs of infection, even viruses and germs it has never encountered.

These defenders utilize sensors—called receptors—that are generated randomly in a vast number of variations.

This gives the immune system the ability to fight a broad range of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably produces immune cells that can attack the body.

Protectors of the Body

Scientists previously knew that some of these problematic white blood cells were eliminated in the thymus—where immune cells mature.

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

We know that this process fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A prize committee added, "These findings have established a new field of research and spurred the creation of new therapies, for example for cancer and immune disorders."

In cancer, regulatory T-cells block the body from fighting the tumor, so research are aimed at lowering their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring increasing T-reg cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A similar method could also be effective in reducing the chances of organ transplant failure.

Innovative Studies

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

The researcher showed that introducing immune cells from healthy animals could stop the illness—implying there was a system for preventing immune cells from harming the host.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an genetic immune disorder in mice and humans that resulted in the identification of a gene critical for how regulatory T-cells operate.

"The pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," commented a prominent biological science expert.

"The research is a striking illustration of how basic physiological research can have broad consequences for human health."