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The prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for transformative findings that illuminate how the immune system attacks dangerous infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

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

Their work uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate rogue immune cells capable of attacking the organism.

The discoveries are now enabling new therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

The winners will share a prize fund worth 11m SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and the reason we don't all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

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

The immune system employs immune cells that search for indicators of infection, even viruses and germs it has not met before.

Such defenders employ detectors—known as receptors—that are generated randomly in a vast number of variations.

That gives the defense network the ability to combat a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the mechanism unavoidably produces immune cells that can target the host.

Security Guards of the Body

Scientists earlier understood that a portion of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—the site where white blood cells mature.

The latest award honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to disarm other defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this process malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Nobel panel added, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and accelerated the creation of new therapies, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

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

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is not being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in minimizing the risks of organ transplant failure.

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, conducted experiments on rodents that had their thymus extracted, causing self-attack conditions.

The researcher demonstrated that introducing immune cells from other animals could stop the illness—suggesting there was a system for preventing defenders from attacking the host.

Mary Brunkow, from the a research center in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an genetic immune disorder in mice and people that led to the discovery of a gene critical for how regulatory T-cells function.

"The groundbreaking research has uncovered how the immune system is kept in check by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the healthy cells," commented a prominent biological science specialist.

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