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This year's Nobel Prize in medical science has been granted for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network targets dangerous pathogens while protecting the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned researchers—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this accolade.

Their work uncovered unique "security guards" within the defense system that remove rogue defense cells capable of harming the organism.

The discoveries are now enabling innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

These winners will divide a prize fund worth 11 million Swedish kronor.

Decisive Findings

"Their research has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and why we don't all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the award panel.

This trio's research explain a core question: How does the immune system protect us from countless infections while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

The immune system uses white blood cells that search for indicators of disease, including viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such cells employ detectors—known as recognition units—that are generated randomly in a vast number of combinations.

That provides the immune system the ability to fight a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably produces white blood cells that may target the body.

Protectors of the Body

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

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the system to neutralize any defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

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

The prize committee added, "These discoveries have established a new field of investigation and accelerated the creation of new therapies, for example for cancer and immune disorders."

In malignancies, T-regs block the body from fighting the tumor, so research are focused on reducing their numbers.

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable approach could also be effective in reducing the risks of organ transplant failure.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted experiments on rodents that had their thymus removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher demonstrated that introducing defense cells from healthy mice could prevent the illness—implying there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the host.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were investigating an genetic immune disorder in rodents and humans that led to the discovery of a genetic factor critical for how T-regs operate.

"The pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," said a leading biological science specialist.

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