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This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for transformative findings that illuminate how the immune system attacks harmful infections while protecting the body's own cells.

Three renowned researchers—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their research identified specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that eliminate rogue immune cells that could harming the body.

The discoveries are now paving the way for new therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

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

Crucial Findings

"The research has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses functions and why we don't all develop serious autoimmune diseases," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's studies explain a core mystery: In what way does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

Our body's protection system employs white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, including pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

Such cells utilize detectors—called recognition units—that are generated by chance in a vast number of variations.

That gives the defense network the capacity to fight a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably produces immune cells that may attack the host.

Security Guards of the Body

Researchers earlier knew that some of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—where immune cells mature.

This year's award honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to disarm other immune cells that attack the body's own tissues.

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

A prize committee stated, "The findings have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of innovative therapies, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from attacking the growth, so studies are aimed at reducing their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing increasing T-reg cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A comparable approach could also be effective in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted tests on mice that had their immune gland extracted, leading to self-attack conditions.

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

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor critical for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"The groundbreaking work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally attacking the body's own tissues," commented a prominent physiology expert.

"The research is a remarkable example of how basic physiological research can have far-reaching consequences for human health."