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This year's Nobel Prize in medical science has been awarded for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network attacks dangerous infections while sparing the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this accolade.

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

These findings are now enabling new therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

The laureates will divide a monetary award valued at 11 million SEK.

Decisive Findings

"The research has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we don't all suffer from severe self-attack conditions," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

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

The body's protection system employs immune cells that scan for signs of infection, including viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.

These defenders utilize sensors—known as recognition units—that are produced randomly in a vast number of combinations.

This gives the defense network the capacity to combat a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the process inevitably creates immune cells that can attack the host.

Protectors of the Immune System

Researchers earlier knew that a portion of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—where immune cells develop.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the body to disarm other immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

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

A prize committee stated, "The findings have established a new field of investigation and accelerated the development of innovative therapies, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

Regarding cancer, regulatory T-cells block the system from fighting the growth, so research are focused on reducing their quantity.

For self-attack disorders, trials are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer under attack. A similar approach could also be useful in reducing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.

Pioneering Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted experiments on rodents that had their thymus removed, causing autoimmune disease.

He showed that introducing defense cells from healthy animals could stop the illness—implying there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an inherited immune disorder in rodents and people that led to the identification of a genetic factor critical for the way T-regs operate.

"The pioneering research has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," commented a leading biological science specialist.

"The research is a remarkable illustration of how basic physiological study can have far-reaching implications for public health."