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The prestigious award in medical science has been granted for revolutionary findings that clarify how the body's defense network targets harmful infections while sparing the body's own cells.

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

Their work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells capable of attacking the organism.

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

The laureates will divide a prize fund worth 11 million SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

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

This team's studies address a fundamental mystery: In what way does the defense system defend us from numerous infections while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

The body's protection system uses white blood cells that search for indicators of infection, including viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.

These defenders employ detectors—known as receptors—that are generated randomly in countless combinations.

That provides the immune system the ability to combat a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably creates immune cells that may attack the host.

Protectors of the Immune System

Scientists earlier knew that some of these harmful white blood cells were eliminated in the thymus—where white blood cells develop.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of T-reg cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the body to disarm other defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

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

The Nobel panel stated, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and accelerated the creation of new treatments, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from fighting the growth, so studies are focused on lowering their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, trials are testing boosting T-reg cells so the organism is not being harmed. A comparable method could also be useful in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Experiments

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed tests on mice that had their thymus extracted, leading to self-attack conditions.

He demonstrated that injecting defense cells from other mice could prevent the disease—implying there was a system for preventing defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an inherited immune disorder in rodents and people that led to the identification of a gene vital for the way regulatory T-cells function.

"The groundbreaking research has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," said a leading biological science expert.

"The work is a striking illustration of how basic physiological research can have broad consequences for human health."