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This year's prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for transformative discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network targets dangerous infections while sparing the healthy tissues.

Three renowned researchers—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

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

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

The winners will divide a prize fund worth 11 million SEK.

Decisive Discoveries

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

This trio's studies address a fundamental mystery: How does the defense system protect us from countless infections while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

The immune system employs immune cells that scan for indicators of infection, even pathogens and bacteria it has not met before.

These cells employ detectors—called recognition units—that are generated randomly in countless variations.

That gives the defense network the capacity to combat a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably produces immune cells that may target the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists previously understood that some of these problematic defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where white blood cells mature.

This year's award honors the identification of regulatory T-cells—known as the body's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the system to neutralize any defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

It is known that this mechanism fails in autoimmune diseases such as type-1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

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

Regarding cancer, T-regs prevent the body from attacking the growth, so studies are focused on reducing their numbers.

In autoimmune diseases, trials are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Studies

Professor Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, performed tests on rodents that had their thymus removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that introducing immune cells from healthy mice could prevent the disease—implying there was a system for preventing immune cells from harming the host.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an inherited immune disorder in rodents and humans that led to the identification of a genetic factor vital for how regulatory T-cells function.

"Their pioneering research has revealed how the body's defenses is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the body's own tissues," said a prominent physiology expert.

"The work is a remarkable example of how basic physiological research can have far-reaching implications for public health."