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The prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine was granted for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the immune system targets dangerous infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

A trio of esteemed scientists—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.

Their work uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells that could attacking the organism.

The findings are now paving the way for new therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

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

Decisive Findings

"Their work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and the reason we do not all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," commented the head of the award panel.

This team's research address a core mystery: In what way does the defense system defend us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells unharmed?

Our immune system uses white blood cells that search for signs of disease, even pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

Such cells employ sensors—known as receptors—that are produced randomly in countless variations.

That gives the immune system the capacity to combat a broad range of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably produces immune cells that may target the body.

Security Guards of the Body

Researchers previously knew that a portion of these problematic white blood cells were destroyed in the thymus—where immune cells develop.

The latest award recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the system to neutralize other defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

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

A Nobel panel added, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and spurred the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

Regarding cancer, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from attacking the growth, so research are focused on reducing their quantity.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is not being harmed. A similar method could also be useful in minimizing the risks of organ transplant failure.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, conducted tests on rodents that had their thymus removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

He showed that injecting immune cells from healthy animals could stop the illness—suggesting there was a system for preventing defenders from harming the host.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in rodents and humans that led to the identification of a gene vital for the way T-regs operate.

"Their pioneering research has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the body's own tissues," said a prominent biological science specialist.

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