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This year's prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the immune system attacks dangerous infections while protecting the healthy tissues.

A trio of esteemed researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

The research identified specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells capable of attacking the body.

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

These winners will share a prize fund worth 11 million SEK.

Decisive Discoveries

"Their research has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and the reason we do not all develop serious self-attack conditions," commented the head of the award panel.

This team's studies explain a fundamental question: In what way does the defense system protect us from countless infections while leaving our own tissues intact?

The body's protection system employs white blood cells that search for signs of infection, including pathogens and bacteria it has not met before.

Such defenders utilize sensors—called receptors—that are produced randomly in a vast number of variations.

That provides the defense network the ability to fight a broad range of threats, but the randomness of the process inevitably creates white blood cells that may target the body.

Security Guards of the Immune System

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

The latest award honors the identification of T-reg cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the system to disarm any immune cells that assault the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

A Nobel panel added, "These findings have established a novel area of investigation and accelerated the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

In cancer, regulatory T-cells block the system from fighting the growth, so research are focused on reducing their numbers.

In autoimmune diseases, trials are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in reducing the chances of transplanted organ failure.

Innovative Studies

Professor Sakaguchi, from a Japanese institution, conducted experiments on rodents that had their immune gland extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.

The researcher showed that introducing defense cells from other mice could stop the disease—implying there was a system for blocking defenders from harming the host.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and humans that resulted in the identification of a genetic factor vital for the way regulatory T-cells function.

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

"This research is a remarkable example of how fundamental biological study can have broad implications for human health."