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The prestigious award in medical science was granted for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while sparing the body's own cells.

Three renowned scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and American experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their work identified unique "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells that could attacking the body.

These findings are now enabling innovative therapies for immune disorders and malignancies.

These laureates will share a prize fund valued at 11m Swedish kronor.

Crucial Findings

"Their research has been essential for understanding how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop severe self-attack conditions," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

This trio's research explain a core question: How does the immune system defend us from numerous infections while leaving our healthy cells intact?

Our body's protection system employs immune cells that scan for signs of disease, even viruses and germs it has never encountered.

These cells utilize detectors—called recognition units—that are produced randomly in a vast number of combinations.

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

Security Guards of the Body

Scientists earlier knew that a portion of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—where white blood cells develop.

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—known as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to disarm any immune cells that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Nobel panel stated, "The findings have established a novel area of investigation and spurred the creation of new treatments, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

In cancer, T-regs prevent the system from fighting the tumor, so research are aimed at lowering their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is not under attack. A similar approach could also be useful in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.

Pioneering Studies

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

He demonstrated that introducing immune cells from healthy animals could prevent the illness—suggesting there was a mechanism for preventing immune cells from attacking the host.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in rodents and humans that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor critical for the way T-regs function.

"Their pioneering research has revealed how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the healthy cells," commented a leading physiology expert.

"The work is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental biological study can have far-reaching consequences for human health."