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The prestigious award in medical science has been awarded for revolutionary discoveries that clarify how the immune system attacks harmful pathogens while sparing the healthy tissues.

A trio of renowned scientists—from Japan Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

The research uncovered specialized "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate malfunctioning immune cells that could harming the organism.

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

These laureates will divide a monetary award worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Decisive Findings

"The work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses functions and why we do not all develop severe autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

The trio's research explain a fundamental question: How does the immune system defend us from numerous invaders while leaving our healthy cells intact?

Our body's protection system uses white blood cells that search for signs of disease, including pathogens and germs it has never encountered.

These defenders employ sensors—known as recognition units—that are generated by chance in a vast number of combinations.

That gives the immune system the capacity to combat a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the process inevitably produces white blood cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Body

Researchers previously knew that a portion of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where white blood cells develop.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the discovery of regulatory T-cells—known as the immune system's "security guards"—which travel through the system to disarm any defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

It is known that this mechanism fails in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and RA.

A prize committee added, "The findings have laid the foundation for a novel area of investigation and accelerated the creation of innovative therapies, for instance for tumors and immune disorders."

In malignancies, T-regs prevent the system from attacking the growth, so research are focused on lowering their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, trials are testing increasing regulatory T-cells so the organism is not under attack. A similar method could also be useful in minimizing the risks of transplanted organ failure.

Pioneering Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, performed experiments on mice that had their immune gland removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

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

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the a research center in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in San Francisco, were studying an inherited immune disorder in mice and people that led to the identification of a genetic factor vital for the way T-regs operate.

"The groundbreaking work has uncovered how the immune system is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from mistakenly attacking the body's own tissues," said a prominent biological science specialist.

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