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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks dangerous pathogens while sparing the body's own cells.

A trio of esteemed scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and American experts Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

The work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the defense system that remove malfunctioning immune cells that could attacking the organism.

These findings are now enabling innovative treatments for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

The winners will share a monetary award valued at 11 million Swedish kronor.

Crucial Discoveries

"The work has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses functions and why we do not all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

This team's research explain a core mystery: In what way does the immune system defend us from numerous invaders while keeping our healthy cells unharmed?

Our body's protection system uses white blood cells that scan for indicators of disease, even viruses and bacteria it has not met before.

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

This gives the immune system the capacity to fight a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably produces immune cells that may target the body.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers previously understood that some of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where white blood cells mature.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to disarm any defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

The Nobel panel added, "The findings have established a new field of investigation and spurred the creation of innovative treatments, for example for cancer and immune disorders."

In malignancies, T-regs prevent the system from attacking the tumor, so studies are focused on reducing their quantity.

For self-attack disorders, trials are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is not under attack. A comparable approach could also be effective in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed experiments on mice that had their thymus removed, leading to self-attack conditions.

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

Mary Brunkow, from the a research center in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and humans that resulted in the identification of a gene critical for how regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their groundbreaking research has revealed how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science specialist.

"The research is a striking illustration of how basic physiological study can have far-reaching implications for public health."