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This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for transformative discoveries that clarify how the immune system targets harmful infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

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

Their research uncovered specialized "security guards" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells capable of attacking the organism.

The discoveries are now paving the way for new therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

These laureates will share a monetary award worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Decisive Findings

"The work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and the reason we do not all develop severe autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's studies address a core mystery: In what way does the defense system defend us from numerous infections while keeping our healthy cells unharmed?

Our immune system employs white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, even viruses and bacteria it has not met before.

Such defenders utilize sensors—called recognition units—that are generated randomly in countless variations.

That gives the immune system the capacity to combat a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists previously knew that a portion of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where immune cells mature.

This year's award recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to neutralize other defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this mechanism fails in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A prize committee stated, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and accelerated the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

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

In self-attack disorders, trials are exploring increasing T-reg cells so the body is not under attack. A similar method could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant failure.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted experiments on mice that had their immune gland removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that introducing immune cells from other animals could stop the disease—implying there was a system for blocking immune cells from harming the host.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in rodents and people that resulted in the identification of a genetic factor vital for how regulatory T-cells function.

"The groundbreaking work has revealed how the body's defenses is kept in check by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," said a leading physiology expert.

"The work is a remarkable example of how fundamental physiological study can have broad implications for human health."