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The Nobel Prize in medical science has been awarded for transformative findings that clarify how the immune system targets dangerous pathogens while protecting the body's own cells.

Three esteemed scientists—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this accolade.

Their work identified unique "sentinels" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning defense cells that could harming the body.

The findings are now enabling innovative treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

These winners will divide a prize fund worth 11m SEK.

Decisive Findings

"The research has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and the reason we do not all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the award panel.

This team's research address a fundamental question: In what way does the immune system protect us from countless invaders while keeping our healthy cells unharmed?

Our immune system employs immune cells that search for indicators of infection, including pathogens and bacteria it has not met before.

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

That provides the immune system the capacity to fight a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably creates immune cells that can target the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists previously understood that some of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where immune cells develop.

This year's award recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to neutralize other defenders that attack the healthy cells.

It is known that this process malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The prize committee added, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and spurred the creation of innovative therapies, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells block the body from attacking the growth, so research are focused on lowering their numbers.

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

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, conducted tests on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that injecting immune cells from healthy mice could stop the disease—suggesting there was a mechanism for preventing defenders from harming the host.

Mary Brunkow, from the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the discovery of a gene vital for the way regulatory T-cells function.

"Their pioneering work has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," commented a prominent biological science specialist.

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