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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for transformative discoveries that clarify how the immune system attacks dangerous pathogens while sparing the healthy tissues.

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

Their work uncovered unique "security guards" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning defense cells that could harming the body.

These discoveries are now paving the way for innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

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

Crucial Discoveries

"Their work has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we do not all suffer from severe autoimmune diseases," stated the head of the award panel.

This team's studies explain a core mystery: In what way does the immune system protect us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells unharmed?

The body's protection system employs white blood cells that search for indicators of disease, including viruses and germs it has never encountered.

Such cells utilize sensors—called receptors—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

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

Protectors of the Immune System

Scientists previously understood that a portion of these problematic white blood cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where immune cells develop.

This year's Nobel Prize honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the body to disarm other immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

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

The prize committee stated, "These findings have established a new field of research and accelerated the creation of new treatments, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding malignancies, T-regs prevent the system from fighting the tumor, so research are aimed at lowering their quantity.

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing boosting T-reg cells so the body is no longer being harmed. A comparable method could also be useful in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Studies

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted tests on rodents that had their immune gland removed, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher demonstrated that injecting immune cells from healthy mice could stop the disease—implying there was a system for blocking immune cells from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an inherited immune disorder in rodents and humans that resulted in the identification of a genetic factor vital for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their groundbreaking research has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the body's own tissues," said a leading biological science specialist.

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