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This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine was granted for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while sparing the body's own cells.

Three esteemed scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US experts Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this accolade.

The research identified specialized "sentinels" within the immune system that remove rogue immune cells that could attacking the body.

The discoveries are now enabling new treatments for immune disorders and cancer.

These laureates will share a monetary award worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Decisive Discoveries

"The work has been essential for comprehending how the immune system functions and why we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's studies address a core mystery: How does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

Our body's protection system employs white blood cells that search for indicators of disease, including viruses and germs it has never encountered.

These defenders employ sensors—called receptors—that are produced randomly in a vast number of combinations.

That gives the defense network the ability to combat a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably produces white blood cells that can target the host.

Security Guards of the Body

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

The latest award recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the system to disarm other immune cells that assault the body's own tissues.

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

A Nobel panel added, "These findings have established a novel area of research and spurred the creation of innovative therapies, for example for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

In cancer, T-regs prevent the body from attacking the growth, so research are focused on lowering their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are testing increasing T-reg cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant failure.

Pioneering Experiments

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

He demonstrated that injecting immune cells from other mice could prevent the illness—suggesting there was a system for preventing immune cells from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and people that led to the discovery of a genetic factor vital for the way T-regs operate.

"The pioneering research has uncovered how the immune system is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally attacking the body's own tissues," commented a prominent biological science specialist.

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