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The Nobel Prize in medical science has been awarded for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the immune system attacks dangerous infections while sparing the healthy tissues.

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

The work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning immune cells capable of harming the body.

These discoveries are now paving the way for innovative therapies for immune disorders and malignancies.

The laureates will divide a prize fund worth 11 million SEK.

Decisive Findings

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

The trio's research address a core question: In what way does the defense system protect us from numerous invaders while keeping our own tissues intact?

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

Such cells employ sensors—known as recognition units—that are generated by chance in countless combinations.

This gives the defense network the capacity to combat a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably creates white blood cells that can target the body.

Security Guards of the Body

Researchers previously understood that some of these harmful defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—where white blood cells develop.

This year's award honors the identification of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to disarm any immune cells that attack the body's own tissues.

We know that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Nobel panel added, "The findings have established a novel area of investigation and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and immune disorders."

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from fighting the growth, so research are aimed at lowering their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is not under attack. A similar method could also be effective in minimizing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, performed tests on mice that had their thymus removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that introducing immune cells from other animals could stop the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an genetic immune disorder in mice and humans that led to the discovery of a gene critical for the way T-regs function.

"The groundbreaking research has uncovered how the body's defenses is kept in check by regulatory T cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," said a leading physiology expert.

"This research is a striking example of how fundamental biological research can have broad implications for human health."