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The Nobel Prize in medical science has been awarded for transformative discoveries that clarify how the immune system attacks dangerous infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.

The research identified specialized "security guards" within the immune system that remove rogue immune cells capable of harming the body.

The findings are now enabling innovative therapies for immune disorders and malignancies.

These winners will share a monetary award worth 11m SEK.

Crucial Findings

"Their work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses functions and the reason we don't all develop severe autoimmune diseases," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The team's studies explain a core mystery: In what way does the defense system defend us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells intact?

The immune system uses white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, including viruses and germs it has not met before.

These defenders employ sensors—called receptors—that are produced by chance in countless combinations.

This gives the immune system the capacity to fight a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that may target the body.

Security Guards of the Body

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

The latest award honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the body to disarm any immune cells that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this process malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A prize committee stated, "The discoveries have established a new field of research and spurred the development of new treatments, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

In cancer, regulatory T-cells block the system from fighting the growth, so studies are aimed at lowering their quantity.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing increasing T-reg cells so the body is not being harmed. A comparable approach could also be effective in reducing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.

Pioneering Experiments

Prof Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted experiments on rodents that had their thymus extracted, causing self-attack conditions.

He showed that introducing defense cells from other animals could stop the illness—implying there was a mechanism for preventing immune cells from attacking the host.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that led to the identification of a genetic factor vital for how regulatory T-cells function.

"The groundbreaking work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," said a prominent physiology expert.

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