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This year's Nobel Prize in medical science was awarded for revolutionary findings that clarify how the body's defense network targets dangerous infections while protecting the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

The work uncovered unique "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate rogue immune cells that could harming the organism.

These discoveries are now enabling innovative treatments for immune disorders and cancer.

These laureates will share a prize fund valued at 11m SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been decisive for understanding how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop severe self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.

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

The body's protection system uses immune cells that search for indicators of disease, including pathogens and germs it has not met before.

Such defenders employ detectors—called receptors—that are produced by chance in a vast number of variations.

That gives the immune system the ability to combat a wide array of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably creates immune cells that can target the host.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers previously knew that some of these problematic white blood cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where white blood cells develop.

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the system to neutralize any defenders that assault the healthy cells.

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

The prize committee stated, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and accelerated the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

In cancer, T-regs block the system from attacking the tumor, so research are focused on reducing their numbers.

In autoimmune diseases, trials are testing boosting T-reg cells so the organism is not under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in minimizing the risks of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Experiments

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

He demonstrated that injecting immune cells from healthy mice could stop the illness—suggesting there was a system for blocking immune cells from attacking the body.

Dr. Brunkow, from the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and people that led to the discovery of a genetic factor vital for how regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their groundbreaking work has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," commented a leading biological science expert.

"The work is a striking illustration of how basic biological study can have broad consequences for public health."