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

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

The work uncovered specialized "security guards" within the defense system that eliminate rogue defense cells capable of attacking the body.

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

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

Crucial Findings

"Their work has been essential for understanding how the immune system functions and why we don't all suffer from serious self-attack conditions," stated the head of the award panel.

This team's studies address a core mystery: In what way does the immune system defend us from countless infections while keeping our healthy cells unharmed?

The body's protection system uses white blood cells that scan for indicators of infection, including pathogens and germs it has not met before.

Such defenders employ detectors—called recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless variations.

That gives the defense network the ability to combat a wide array of invaders, but the randomness of the process unavoidably produces immune cells that may target the host.

Security Guards of the Body

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

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the body to neutralize other defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

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

The prize committee stated, "The findings have laid the foundation for a new field of research and accelerated the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, T-regs block the body from attacking the growth, so research are aimed at reducing their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, trials are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the organism is not under attack. A comparable approach could also be useful in reducing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Experiments

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed experiments on mice that had their immune gland removed, leading to self-attack conditions.

The researcher showed that introducing immune cells from other animals could stop the disease—implying there was a system for preventing immune cells from attacking the host.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and people that led to the discovery of a gene critical for the way T-regs function.

"Their groundbreaking work has revealed how the body's defenses is kept in check by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent physiology specialist.

"The work is a striking example of how basic biological research can have far-reaching implications for human health."