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The Nobel Prize in medical science was granted for transformative findings that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks harmful infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three esteemed researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American scientists Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

The work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate rogue defense cells capable of harming the body.

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

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

Decisive Discoveries

"The research has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses functions and why we don't all develop serious self-attack conditions," stated the head of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's studies address a core question: In what way does the immune system defend us from numerous invaders while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

The body's protection system employs white blood cells that scan for signs of infection, even pathogens and bacteria it has never encountered.

These cells utilize detectors—known as receptors—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

That provides the immune system the capacity to combat a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism unavoidably produces white blood cells that may target the body.

Security Guards of the Body

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

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the body to neutralize other immune cells that attack the body's own tissues.

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

A prize committee added, "The discoveries have established a novel area of investigation and accelerated the development of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and immune disorders."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the body from fighting the growth, so research are aimed at reducing their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are testing boosting T-reg cells so the body is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be effective in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Experiments

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted tests on rodents that had their immune gland removed, leading to self-attack conditions.

He showed that injecting immune cells from other animals could stop the disease—suggesting there was a system for blocking defenders from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in mice and people that resulted in the discovery of a gene critical for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their groundbreaking work has revealed how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from accidentally attacking the body's own tissues," said a prominent physiology expert.

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