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

A trio of esteemed scientists—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

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

The findings are now enabling innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

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

Decisive Findings

"The research has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and why we do not all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the award panel.

This trio's research address a core question: How does the immune system defend us from countless infections while leaving our own tissues intact?

Our body's protection system uses white blood cells that search for indicators of disease, even pathogens and bacteria it has not met before.

These defenders utilize detectors—called recognition units—that are generated randomly in countless combinations.

This gives the immune system the capacity to fight a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably produces immune cells that may attack the body.

Security Guards of the Immune System

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

The latest Nobel Prize honors the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm other immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

We know that this process fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

The Nobel panel stated, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

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

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is not under attack. A comparable method could also be effective in minimizing the risks of organ transplant failure.

Pioneering Studies

Prof Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted experiments on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, causing self-attack conditions.

The researcher showed that injecting defense cells from other animals could stop the illness—implying there was a mechanism for preventing defenders from attacking the body.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the identification of a gene critical for the way regulatory T-cells function.

"Their pioneering research has revealed how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science expert.

"This research is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental physiological study can have broad implications for human health."