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This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network targets harmful pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

The research identified specialized "security guards" within the immune system that eliminate rogue defense cells capable of harming the organism.

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

The winners will divide a prize fund valued at 11 million SEK.

Decisive Findings

"Their work has been decisive for comprehending how the immune system operates and the reason we do not all develop severe self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the award panel.

This trio's research explain a fundamental mystery: In what way does the defense system protect us from numerous invaders while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

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

Such defenders employ detectors—called receptors—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

This provides the immune system the capacity to fight a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the process unavoidably produces immune cells that may attack the body.

Protectors of the Immune System

Scientists previously knew that some of these harmful defense cells were destroyed in the thymus—the site where immune cells mature.

The latest award honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the system to disarm other immune cells that attack the body's own tissues.

It is known that this mechanism malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The prize committee added, "These findings have established a novel area of research and accelerated the creation of innovative treatments, for example for cancer and immune disorders."

Regarding malignancies, regulatory T-cells prevent the body from attacking the growth, so research are aimed at lowering their numbers.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are exploring boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer being harmed. A similar approach could also be useful in minimizing the chances of organ transplant rejection.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, conducted experiments on rodents that had their immune gland removed, causing self-attack conditions.

He showed that introducing immune cells from other animals could prevent the disease—implying there was a mechanism for blocking defenders from attacking the host.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were investigating an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the identification of a gene vital for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their groundbreaking research has revealed how the body's defenses is kept in check by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," said a leading physiology specialist.

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