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The Nobel Prize in medical science has been awarded for revolutionary findings that clarify how the body's defense network targets harmful pathogens while protecting the body's own cells.

Three renowned researchers—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their research identified specialized "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate rogue immune cells capable of attacking the body.

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

These laureates will divide a monetary award worth 11 million SEK.

Decisive Findings

"Their research has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses functions and why we don't all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.

This team's studies explain a core mystery: In what way does the defense system protect us from countless infections while leaving our healthy cells unharmed?

The immune system employs white blood cells that scan for indicators of disease, including pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

Such cells utilize detectors—known as receptors—that are generated by chance in countless combinations.

That provides the immune system the capacity to combat a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably creates white blood cells that may attack the host.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers previously understood that some of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where white blood cells mature.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm any defenders that attack the healthy cells.

It is known that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

The Nobel panel added, "The discoveries have established a new field of research and spurred the creation of innovative therapies, for example for tumors and immune disorders."

In cancer, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from attacking the tumor, so studies are aimed at reducing their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are testing boosting T-reg cells so the organism is no longer being harmed. A similar method could also be effective in reducing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted tests on rodents that had their thymus removed, leading to self-attack conditions.

The researcher demonstrated that injecting defense cells from healthy animals could stop the illness—implying there was a system for blocking defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were investigating an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and people that resulted in the identification of a gene vital for how regulatory T-cells function.

"The pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," commented a prominent biological science expert.

"This work is a remarkable example of how fundamental biological research can have broad consequences for human health."