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The prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network targets harmful pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their research identified specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells that could attacking the organism.

The discoveries are now enabling innovative therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

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

Decisive Findings

"The research has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and why we don't all develop severe self-attack conditions," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

The team's research explain a fundamental question: In what way does the defense system defend us from numerous infections while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

Our immune system employs immune cells that scan for indicators of infection, including pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

These cells utilize sensors—called recognition units—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

This gives the defense network the capacity to fight a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the process unavoidably creates immune cells that may target the body.

Protectors of the Body

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

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm any defenders that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this process fails in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.

The Nobel panel added, "These findings have established a new field of research and spurred the creation of new treatments, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, T-regs prevent the system from attacking the growth, so studies are aimed at reducing their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is not being harmed. A comparable method could also be effective in minimizing the chances of organ transplant failure.

Pioneering Experiments

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed experiments on mice that had their thymus extracted, leading to self-attack conditions.

He demonstrated that introducing defense cells from healthy mice could prevent the disease—implying there was a mechanism for preventing defenders from attacking the host.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an genetic immune disorder in rodents and people that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor vital for the way regulatory T-cells function.

"Their pioneering research has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," said a leading physiology expert.

"This work is a remarkable example of how basic physiological research can have far-reaching implications for public health."