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

A trio of esteemed researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this accolade.

The work identified specialized "security guards" within the defense system that remove rogue defense cells that could harming the organism.

These discoveries are now paving the way for new therapies for immune disorders and cancer.

The laureates will divide a monetary award worth 11 million Swedish kronor.

Crucial Findings

"Their work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and why we do not all develop severe autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the award panel.

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

Our body's protection system uses immune cells that search for signs of disease, even viruses and germs it has never encountered.

Such defenders employ detectors—called recognition units—that are produced by chance in countless combinations.

That provides the immune system the ability to combat a wide array of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism inevitably creates immune cells that may target the body.

Protectors of the Body

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

This year's award honors the identification of T-reg cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the body to disarm any defenders that assault the healthy cells.

It is known that this process fails in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.

The prize committee added, "These findings have laid the foundation for a new field of research and accelerated the development of new treatments, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

Regarding cancer, regulatory T-cells block the system from fighting the tumor, so studies are aimed at lowering their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, trials are testing boosting T-reg cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable approach could also be useful in reducing the chances of organ transplant failure.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed tests on mice that had their thymus removed, leading to self-attack conditions.

The researcher showed that introducing defense cells from other animals could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a system for preventing immune cells from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in a US city, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and humans that led to the identification of a gene vital for the way T-regs operate.

"The pioneering research has revealed how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," commented a leading physiology specialist.

"The research is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental biological study can have broad consequences for human health."