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This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was granted for revolutionary findings that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while sparing the healthy tissues.

Three renowned scientists—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and US experts Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

The work identified specialized "security guards" within the defense system that remove malfunctioning defense cells capable of harming the body.

The discoveries are now paving the way for new treatments for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

The laureates will divide a monetary award valued at 11m SEK.

Crucial Findings

"Their research has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses functions and the reason we don't all suffer from severe autoimmune diseases," stated the head of the award panel.

The trio's studies address a fundamental mystery: How does the defense system defend us from countless infections while keeping our healthy cells intact?

Our body's protection system employs immune cells that search for indicators of disease, including pathogens and germs it has not met before.

These cells employ detectors—known as recognition units—that are generated randomly in countless combinations.

This gives the immune system the ability to fight a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably creates immune cells that may attack the body.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers earlier knew that a portion of these harmful defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—the site where immune cells develop.

The latest award honors the discovery of T-reg cells—known as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to neutralize any immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this process malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and RA.

The Nobel panel added, "The findings have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the system from fighting the growth, so studies are aimed at reducing their quantity.

For autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer under attack. A comparable approach could also be effective in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Pioneering Experiments

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

He demonstrated that introducing immune cells from other animals could stop the illness—suggesting there was a system for preventing immune cells from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and people that resulted in the discovery of a genetic factor critical for how T-regs operate.

"Their pioneering work has revealed how the body's defenses is kept in check by regulatory T cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," said a leading biological science specialist.

"This work is a striking example of how fundamental biological research can have far-reaching consequences for public health."