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This year's Nobel Prize in medical science has been awarded for transformative findings that illuminate how the immune system targets dangerous infections while sparing the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and American scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—received this honor.

Their research identified specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells that could harming the organism.

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

These laureates will share a monetary award worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Crucial Discoveries

"The work has been essential for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we don't all develop severe self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's research explain a core mystery: In what way does the immune system defend us from countless invaders while keeping our own tissues intact?

The immune system employs immune cells that search for indicators of disease, including pathogens and bacteria it has not met before.

Such defenders employ sensors—called receptors—that are generated by chance in a vast number of combinations.

That provides the immune system the ability to fight a broad range of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably produces white blood cells that may attack the body.

Security Guards of the Body

Scientists previously knew that some of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where white blood cells mature.

This year's Nobel Prize honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the body to neutralize other immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Nobel panel stated, "The discoveries have established a new field of research and accelerated the creation of new therapies, for example for cancer and immune disorders."

In cancer, T-regs prevent the body from fighting the growth, so research are aimed at lowering their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is not being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in reducing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.

Pioneering Studies

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

He showed that introducing immune cells from other mice could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the host.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an inherited immune disorder in rodents and people that resulted in the discovery of a gene critical for how T-regs function.

"Their groundbreaking work has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," commented a prominent biological science specialist.

"This work is a remarkable example of how fundamental physiological study can have far-reaching consequences for human health."