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This year's prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the immune system targets harmful pathogens while protecting the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned scientists—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

The work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the immune system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells that could harming the organism.

The findings are now paving the way for new treatments for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

The laureates will divide a monetary award worth 11m SEK.

Decisive Findings

"The work has been essential for understanding how the immune system functions and the reason we do not all suffer from severe autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the award panel.

The team's research explain a core question: How does the defense system protect us from countless infections while keeping our healthy cells intact?

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

These defenders employ sensors—called receptors—that are generated randomly in countless variations.

That provides the immune system the capacity to combat a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably creates white blood cells that may target the body.

Protectors of the Body

Scientists earlier understood that some of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—where immune cells develop.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the system to neutralize other defenders that assault the healthy cells.

We know that this process fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.

A Nobel panel stated, "These findings have established a novel area of investigation and accelerated the creation of new treatments, for example for cancer and immune disorders."

Regarding malignancies, T-regs block the system from fighting the tumor, so studies are aimed at lowering their numbers.

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer under attack. A similar approach could also be useful in minimizing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed tests on mice that had their immune gland removed, causing autoimmune disease.

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

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

"The groundbreaking work has revealed how the body's defenses is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," commented a prominent biological science expert.

"The research is a remarkable illustration of how basic physiological research can have broad implications for human health."