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This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was granted for transformative findings that clarify how the body's defense network attacks dangerous infections while sparing the body's own cells.

A trio of esteemed scientists—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and American scientists Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this accolade.

The research identified specialized "security guards" within the defense system that remove rogue immune cells that could harming the body.

The discoveries are now enabling innovative treatments for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

These laureates will share a prize fund valued at 11m SEK.

Crucial Findings

"Their research has been decisive for understanding how the immune system functions and why we don't all develop severe autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the award panel.

The team's studies explain a fundamental mystery: In what way does the immune system defend us from numerous invaders while keeping our healthy cells intact?

Our immune system uses white blood cells that scan for indicators of infection, including pathogens and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such defenders employ detectors—called receptors—that are produced randomly in a vast number of combinations.

That gives the immune system the capacity to combat a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that may target the body.

Protectors of the Body

Scientists earlier understood that a portion of these harmful white blood cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where white blood cells develop.

This year's award honors the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the body to neutralize other immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism fails in self-attack conditions such as type-1 diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

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

In malignancies, T-regs block the system from attacking the tumor, so research are aimed at reducing their quantity.

For self-attack disorders, experiments are testing increasing T-reg cells so the organism is not being harmed. A similar approach could also be effective in minimizing the chances of organ transplant failure.

Innovative Studies

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed experiments on rodents that had their thymus extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.

He showed that injecting immune cells from healthy mice could stop the illness—implying there was a system for preventing immune cells from attacking the body.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and people that led to the discovery of a genetic factor vital for how T-regs function.

"The groundbreaking work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science expert.

"The research is a remarkable example of how basic biological research can have broad consequences for public health."