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This year's Nobel Prize in medical science has been granted for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network targets dangerous infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this honor.

The work uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that remove rogue defense cells that could harming the organism.

These discoveries are now enabling innovative treatments for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

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

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been essential for comprehending how the body's defenses functions and the reason we don't all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the award panel.

The trio's studies explain a fundamental mystery: In what way does the defense system protect us from numerous infections while leaving our own tissues intact?

Our immune system uses immune cells that search for signs of infection, even viruses and germs it has never encountered.

These cells employ detectors—known as recognition units—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

That gives the defense network the capacity to fight a wide array of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably produces immune cells that can target the body.

Protectors of the Body

Scientists previously understood that a portion of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where immune cells mature.

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

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.

A prize committee added, "The discoveries have laid the foundation for a new field of research and accelerated the development of new therapies, for example for tumors and immune disorders."

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells block the body from fighting the tumor, so research are aimed at reducing their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is not under attack. A comparable approach could also be useful in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed tests on rodents that had their thymus removed, causing autoimmune disease.

He demonstrated that introducing defense cells from other animals could stop the disease—implying there was a system for blocking defenders from harming the body.

Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an genetic immune disorder in rodents and people that led to the identification of a gene critical for the way regulatory T-cells function.

"The pioneering work has revealed how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," commented a leading physiology specialist.

"The research is a remarkable example of how fundamental biological study can have broad implications for human health."