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The Nobel Prize in medical science was awarded for revolutionary findings that illuminate how the immune system attacks dangerous infections while sparing the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this accolade.

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

The discoveries are now enabling new treatments for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

The laureates will share a prize fund valued at 11m Swedish kronor.

Crucial Discoveries

"The research has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and the reason we do not all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the award panel.

This trio's studies explain a fundamental mystery: How does the defense system protect us from numerous infections while keeping our healthy cells intact?

Our immune system uses white blood cells that scan for signs of infection, including viruses and germs it has never encountered.

These cells employ sensors—called receptors—that are generated randomly in a vast number of combinations.

That gives the immune system the capacity to combat a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably creates white blood cells that may attack the host.

Protectors of the Immune System

Researchers previously knew that a portion of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—where white blood cells develop.

This year's award honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm any defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

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

A Nobel panel stated, "These findings have laid the foundation for a new field of investigation and accelerated the development of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In cancer, T-regs block the system from attacking the growth, so studies are aimed at reducing their quantity.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are exploring increasing T-reg cells so the body is not under attack. A comparable approach could also be effective in reducing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Studies

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed experiments on mice that had their thymus removed, causing self-attack conditions.

The researcher showed that introducing defense cells from healthy mice could prevent the illness—implying there was a system for preventing immune cells from attacking the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an inherited immune disorder in rodents and humans that resulted in the identification of a gene critical for the way T-regs function.

"The groundbreaking work has revealed how the body's defenses is kept in check by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," said a leading physiology specialist.

"The work is a striking example of how basic biological research can have broad implications for human health."