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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for revolutionary findings that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while sparing the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

The work uncovered unique "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells capable of harming the organism.

These discoveries are now paving the way for new treatments for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

These laureates will share a prize fund valued at 11m SEK.

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been essential for comprehending how the immune system operates and why we do not all develop severe self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The team's research explain a fundamental question: How does the immune system protect us from numerous invaders while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

The immune system employs immune cells that scan for indicators of disease, even pathogens and germs it has not met before.

Such cells employ detectors—called receptors—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

That provides the defense network the capacity to combat a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the process unavoidably produces white blood cells that may target the host.

Protectors of the Body

Scientists earlier knew that a portion of these harmful white blood cells were destroyed in the immune organ—where immune cells mature.

This year's Nobel Prize honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to disarm any defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

It is known that this process fails in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

The prize committee added, "The findings have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and spurred the creation of new therapies, for instance for cancer and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, T-regs prevent the system from fighting the tumor, so studies are focused on lowering their quantity.

In self-attack disorders, trials are testing boosting T-reg cells so the body is no longer being harmed. A similar approach could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Experiments

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed experiments on mice that had their immune gland removed, causing self-attack conditions.

He demonstrated that injecting immune cells from healthy animals could prevent the disease—implying there was a system for blocking immune cells from harming the host.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an inherited immune disorder in rodents and humans that led to the discovery of a genetic factor vital for the way regulatory T-cells function.

"The groundbreaking research has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the healthy cells," said a leading physiology expert.

"The work is a striking example of how fundamental biological study can have far-reaching implications for human health."