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This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for revolutionary findings that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks harmful infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three esteemed researchers—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this accolade.

The work identified specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells capable of attacking the body.

The discoveries are now enabling innovative therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

The laureates will divide a prize fund valued at 11 million SEK.

Decisive Discoveries

"The work has been essential for comprehending how the body's defenses functions and why we don't all develop serious autoimmune diseases," stated the head of the award panel.

This team's studies address a fundamental question: How does the defense system protect us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells unharmed?

The immune system uses immune cells that search for indicators of infection, including pathogens and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such cells utilize sensors—known as recognition units—that are produced by chance in a vast number of variations.

This provides the immune system the capacity to combat a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism unavoidably produces white blood cells that may attack the host.

Protectors of the Immune System

Scientists earlier understood that a portion of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where white blood cells develop.

The latest award recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—described as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to disarm other immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

It is known that this process malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Nobel panel stated, "These findings have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

In cancer, T-regs prevent the system from attacking the tumor, so research are aimed at reducing their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, experiments are testing boosting T-reg cells so the body is no longer under attack. A similar approach could also be effective in reducing the risks of organ transplant failure.

Pioneering Studies

Professor Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed experiments on mice that had their immune gland extracted, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that injecting immune cells from other mice could prevent the disease—implying there was a system for preventing immune cells from attacking the host.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in mice and humans that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor critical for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"The groundbreaking work has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science expert.

"The work is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental physiological study can have broad consequences for public health."