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The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for transformative findings that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks dangerous pathogens while protecting the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and American experts Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

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

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

The winners will share a monetary award worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Decisive Discoveries

"The work has been decisive for comprehending how the body's defenses functions and the reason we don't all develop severe self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the award panel.

The trio's studies address a core question: In what way does the immune system protect us from countless infections while keeping our healthy cells intact?

The immune system employs white blood cells that scan for indicators of disease, even viruses and germs it has not met before.

Such cells employ sensors—known as receptors—that are generated randomly in countless variations.

This gives the defense network the capacity to fight a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably produces immune cells that may attack the host.

Protectors of the Immune System

Researchers previously knew that some of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the thymus—where immune cells develop.

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

It is known that this process malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A prize committee added, "These findings have established a novel area of investigation and accelerated the creation of innovative treatments, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In malignancies, regulatory T-cells block the body from attacking the growth, so studies are focused on lowering their quantity.

For autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing increasing T-reg cells so the body is not under attack. A similar method could also be effective in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Pioneering Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, performed experiments on rodents that had their immune gland removed, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that injecting immune cells from healthy mice could stop the disease—implying there was a mechanism for preventing immune cells from attacking the body.

Mary Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Fred Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in a California city, were studying an inherited autoimmune disease in rodents and people that led to the identification of a genetic factor critical for how T-regs function.

"The groundbreaking work has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly targeting the body's own tissues," said a prominent physiology expert.

"This research is a striking illustration of how basic biological research can have far-reaching consequences for human health."