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This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this accolade.

The research uncovered unique "sentinels" within the immune system that eliminate rogue defense cells capable of attacking the organism.

The discoveries are now paving the way for new therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

These laureates will divide a prize fund valued at 11m Swedish kronor.

Decisive Discoveries

"The work has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses operates and why we do not all suffer from severe autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the award panel.

This trio's studies explain a fundamental question: How does the defense system protect us from countless invaders while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

Our body's protection system employs immune cells that search for signs of infection, even viruses and germs it has not met before.

These cells employ detectors—called recognition units—that are generated by chance in countless combinations.

This gives the defense network the capacity to fight a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably creates white blood cells that can attack the host.

Protectors of the Immune System

Scientists previously understood that some of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the thymus—where immune cells mature.

The latest Nobel Prize honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm other immune cells that attack the body's own tissues.

It is known that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A prize committee added, "These findings have laid the foundation for a new field of research and accelerated the creation of new treatments, for example for cancer and immune disorders."

In cancer, T-regs block the body from attacking the growth, so studies are aimed at lowering their numbers.

In autoimmune diseases, trials are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is not under attack. A similar method could also be effective in minimizing the risks of organ transplant failure.

Innovative Experiments

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

He demonstrated that introducing defense cells from other mice could stop the illness—suggesting there was a mechanism for preventing defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the identification of a genetic factor critical for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their groundbreaking work has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from accidentally attacking the body's own tissues," commented a prominent physiology specialist.

"The research is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental biological research can have far-reaching consequences for human health."