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The prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks dangerous pathogens while protecting the body's own cells.

Three renowned scientists—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this accolade.

The work identified unique "security guards" within the defense system that remove rogue immune cells that could harming the body.

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

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

Decisive Findings

"The work has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and why we do not all suffer from severe self-attack conditions," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's research address a fundamental question: In what way does the immune system protect us from countless invaders while leaving our healthy cells intact?

The body's protection system employs white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, even pathogens and bacteria it has not met before.

These cells utilize sensors—known as recognition units—that are generated randomly in a vast number of variations.

This provides the immune system the capacity to combat a wide array of threats, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably produces immune cells that can attack the body.

Security Guards of the Body

Researchers earlier understood that some of these problematic white blood cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where immune cells mature.

This year's Nobel Prize honors the discovery of T-reg cells—described as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the system to neutralize other immune cells that attack the body's own tissues.

We know that this mechanism fails in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

The prize committee stated, "The findings have established a novel area of investigation and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

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

For self-attack disorders, trials are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is not being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in minimizing the risks of organ transplant rejection.

Pioneering Experiments

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted experiments on mice that had their thymus removed, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that injecting defense cells from other mice could stop the disease—implying there was a mechanism for preventing defenders from harming the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were studying an genetic immune disorder in mice and people that led to the identification of a gene vital for the way T-regs operate.

"Their pioneering work has revealed how the body's defenses is kept in check by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," said a leading biological science expert.

"The work is a remarkable illustration of how basic biological study can have far-reaching consequences for human health."