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The prestigious award in medical science was awarded for revolutionary findings that illuminate how the immune system attacks harmful infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned scientists—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this accolade.

Their work uncovered unique "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells that could harming the organism.

The findings are now enabling new therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

The winners will share a prize fund worth 11 million Swedish kronor.

Decisive Findings

"The work has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system functions and why we don't all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the award panel.

This team's studies explain a core question: How does the immune system defend us from countless infections while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

Our immune system uses immune cells that search for indicators of disease, even pathogens and germs it has not met before.

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

That provides the immune system the capacity to combat a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that may target the body.

Protectors of the Immune System

Researchers earlier knew that a portion of these problematic white blood cells were destroyed in the immune organ—the site where immune cells mature.

This year's award recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which patrol the system to disarm other defenders that assault the healthy cells.

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

A Nobel panel added, "These 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 lowering their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, trials are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the body is no longer being harmed. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Experiments

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

He showed that injecting defense cells from healthy mice could prevent the illness—suggesting there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that resulted in the discovery of a gene critical for how regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their pioneering research has uncovered how the body's defenses is kept in check by T-reg cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the healthy cells," said a leading physiology expert.

"The research is a striking illustration of how fundamental physiological study can have broad implications for human health."