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This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the immune system targets dangerous infections while sparing the body's own cells.

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

Their work identified specialized "security guards" within the immune system that remove rogue defense cells capable of attacking the body.

The discoveries are now paving the way for new therapies for immune disorders and malignancies.

The winners will share a prize fund valued at 11 million Swedish kronor.

Crucial Findings

"Their work has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we do not all develop severe autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

This team's research explain a core question: How does the defense system protect us from numerous invaders while keeping our healthy cells unharmed?

Our body's protection system employs immune cells that scan for signs of disease, including viruses and germs it has not met before.

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

This gives the defense network the ability to fight a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably creates white blood cells that may target the host.

Protectors of the Body

Scientists earlier understood that some of these problematic white blood cells were destroyed in the thymus—where immune cells develop.

The latest Nobel Prize honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the system to neutralize other immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

It is known that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

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

In malignancies, T-regs block the body from fighting the tumor, so studies are aimed at reducing their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, trials are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be effective in reducing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Studies

Prof Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted experiments on mice that had their immune gland extracted, causing self-attack conditions.

He showed that injecting defense cells from other animals could stop the illness—suggesting there was a system for blocking immune cells from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and people that led to the discovery of a gene vital for how regulatory T-cells operate.

"The groundbreaking work has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," said a leading physiology expert.

"This work is a remarkable illustration of how basic biological study can have broad consequences for public health."