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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network attacks dangerous infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this accolade.

The work uncovered specialized "security guards" within the immune system that eliminate rogue immune cells that could attacking the body.

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

These winners will divide a monetary award worth 11 million Swedish kronor.

Crucial Findings

"Their research has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and why we don't all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

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

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

Such defenders utilize sensors—called receptors—that are produced by chance in a vast number of combinations.

That provides the defense network the capacity to fight a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism unavoidably produces white blood cells that may attack the body.

Protectors of the Body

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

The latest Nobel Prize honors the identification of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the system to disarm any defenders that assault the healthy cells.

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

The Nobel panel stated, "The discoveries have established a new field of research and accelerated the development of new treatments, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

Regarding malignancies, T-regs prevent the body from fighting the tumor, so research are aimed at reducing their quantity.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted experiments on mice that had their immune gland extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that introducing immune cells from other animals could stop the disease—suggesting there was a system for blocking defenders from attacking the host.

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

"The pioneering work has revealed how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," commented a prominent physiology expert.

"This work is a striking illustration of how fundamental physiological research can have broad consequences for human health."