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This year's Nobel Prize in medical science was awarded for transformative discoveries that clarify how the immune system attacks dangerous pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three esteemed researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

Their research uncovered specialized "security guards" within the immune system that remove malfunctioning immune cells capable of attacking the organism.

These discoveries are now enabling innovative therapies for immune disorders and malignancies.

These laureates will divide a prize fund valued at 11m Swedish kronor.

Decisive Findings

"The work has been decisive for understanding how the immune system operates and the reason we do not all suffer from severe autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The team's studies address a fundamental question: In what way does the immune system protect us from numerous infections while leaving our healthy cells intact?

Our body's protection system uses white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, including viruses and germs it has never encountered.

These cells utilize sensors—known as recognition units—that are generated by chance in a vast number of combinations.

That gives the immune system the capacity to fight a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the process unavoidably creates white blood cells that may target the host.

Security Guards of the Body

Scientists earlier understood that a portion of these harmful defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—where white blood cells mature.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to neutralize any defenders that attack the healthy cells.

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

The prize committee added, "The discoveries have established a new field of investigation and spurred the development of new treatments, for example for tumors and immune disorders."

Regarding cancer, regulatory T-cells prevent the body from fighting the growth, so research are focused on reducing their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, trials are exploring boosting T-reg cells so the organism is not under attack. A comparable method could also be effective in reducing the risks of organ transplant failure.

Pioneering Experiments

Prof Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, conducted tests on mice that had their immune gland removed, causing self-attack conditions.

The researcher demonstrated that injecting immune cells from other animals could stop the disease—suggesting there was a system for preventing defenders from harming the body.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and humans that led to the identification of a gene vital for the way T-regs operate.

"Their groundbreaking research has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," commented a prominent physiology expert.

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