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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for revolutionary findings that clarify how the immune system targets harmful pathogens while sparing the body's own cells.

Three esteemed researchers—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their work identified specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells capable of attacking the body.

The findings are now enabling new treatments for immune disorders and cancer.

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

Crucial Findings

"The work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses functions and why we do not all suffer from severe autoimmune diseases," stated the head of the award panel.

This trio's research explain a core question: In what way does the defense system protect us from numerous infections while leaving our healthy cells intact?

The immune system uses white blood cells that search for signs of disease, including viruses and bacteria it has not met before.

Such cells utilize detectors—called receptors—that are produced by chance in countless variations.

That provides the defense network the capacity to combat a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism unavoidably creates white blood cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

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

This year's Nobel Prize honors the discovery of T-reg cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm other immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this process fails in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The prize committee stated, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and accelerated the development of new therapies, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells block the body from attacking the tumor, so research are focused on reducing their quantity.

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are exploring increasing T-reg cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in reducing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Experiments

Prof Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted experiments on rodents that had their thymus extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.

He showed that injecting immune cells from healthy mice could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a mechanism for preventing defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the discovery of a genetic factor vital for the way T-regs operate.

"Their pioneering research has uncovered how the body's defenses is kept in check by regulatory T cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," commented a leading physiology expert.

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