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The prestigious award in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the immune system attacks harmful infections while sparing the body's own cells.

Three esteemed scientists—Japan's Shimon Sakaguchi and US scientists Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

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

These discoveries are now paving the way for new therapies for immune disorders and malignancies.

The laureates will share a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Crucial Findings

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

The trio's research explain a fundamental question: How does the immune system protect us from countless infections while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

The immune system employs immune cells that scan for signs of infection, even viruses and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such defenders utilize detectors—known as recognition units—that are produced randomly in countless variations.

This gives the immune system the ability to combat a wide array of invaders, but the randomness of the process inevitably produces white blood cells that may target the host.

Protectors of the Body

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

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—described as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which patrol the body to disarm other defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

We know that this process fails in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

A prize committee stated, "These discoveries have established a new field of research and accelerated the development of new treatments, for example for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

In cancer, T-regs block the system from fighting the growth, so studies are aimed at lowering their numbers.

In self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is no longer under attack. A similar approach could also be effective in reducing the chances of organ transplant failure.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed experiments on mice that had their immune gland extracted, causing self-attack conditions.

He showed that injecting immune cells from healthy animals could stop the illness—implying there was a mechanism for preventing defenders from harming the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were studying an genetic immune disorder in mice and humans that resulted in the discovery of a gene vital for how regulatory T-cells operate.

"The pioneering research has revealed how the immune system is kept in check by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the body's own tissues," commented a prominent biological science expert.

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