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The Nobel Prize in medical science was granted for transformative findings that clarify how the body's defense network attacks harmful pathogens while protecting the body's own cells.

A trio of esteemed researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US scientists Dr. Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

Their work identified specialized "security guards" within the immune system that eliminate rogue immune cells that could harming the body.

These findings are now paving the way for new therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

These winners will share a monetary award worth 11m SEK.

Decisive Findings

"The work has been essential for understanding how the body's defenses operates and the reason we do not all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the Nobel Committee.

This team's studies address a fundamental mystery: In what way does the defense system protect us from numerous infections while leaving our healthy cells unharmed?

The body's protection system uses white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, including viruses and germs it has not met before.

These defenders utilize sensors—called recognition units—that are produced randomly in a vast number of variations.

That provides the defense network the ability to combat a broad range of invaders, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably creates white blood cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists previously understood that some of these harmful white blood cells were eliminated in the thymus—the site where white blood cells develop.

The latest Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—known as the immune system's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to neutralize other defenders that attack the body's own tissues.

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

A Nobel panel stated, "These findings have laid the foundation for a new field of research and spurred the development of new therapies, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

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

For self-attack disorders, experiments are exploring increasing T-reg cells so the body is no longer under attack. A comparable method could also be useful in minimizing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Studies

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, from Osaka University, conducted experiments on mice that had their thymus extracted, causing self-attack conditions.

He demonstrated that injecting defense cells from other animals could stop the illness—implying there was a mechanism for blocking immune cells from attacking the body.

Dr. Brunkow, affiliated with the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, currently at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were investigating an inherited autoimmune disease in mice and people that led to the discovery of a gene vital for the way T-regs function.

"Their pioneering work has revealed how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, preventing it from mistakenly attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent biological science expert.

"The research is a remarkable example of how basic biological study can have far-reaching consequences for public health."