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This year's prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while protecting the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned researchers—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.

The research uncovered unique "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells capable of attacking the organism.

The findings are now enabling innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

These winners will share a monetary award valued at 11m Swedish kronor.

Decisive Discoveries

"Their work has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and why we don't all develop serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the award panel.

This trio's studies explain a fundamental question: In what way does the defense system defend us from countless invaders while keeping our own tissues intact?

The immune system employs white blood cells that scan for indicators of disease, even pathogens and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such defenders utilize detectors—known as recognition units—that are generated randomly in countless variations.

This provides the immune system the capacity to fight a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably produces white blood cells that may target the body.

Security Guards of the Immune System

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

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

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

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

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from fighting the growth, so studies are focused on reducing their quantity.

In self-attack disorders, trials are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer being harmed. A similar approach could also be effective in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Studies

Professor Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed experiments on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, leading to self-attack conditions.

The researcher showed that introducing defense cells from other mice could stop the illness—implying there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the a research center in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that resulted in the identification of a gene critical for the way regulatory T-cells function.

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

"The research is a remarkable example of how basic biological study can have far-reaching implications for human health."