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This year's prestigious award in medical science was awarded for revolutionary discoveries that illuminate how the body's defense network attacks harmful infections while sparing the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned researchers—from Japan Shimon Sakaguchi and American scientists Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—received this honor.

The research identified unique "sentinels" within the defense system that eliminate rogue immune cells that could attacking the organism.

The discoveries are now enabling innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and malignancies.

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

Decisive Findings

"Their work has been decisive for understanding how the body's defenses operates and the reason we don't all develop serious self-attack conditions," stated the chair of the award panel.

The trio's studies address a fundamental mystery: How does the defense system protect us from countless invaders while keeping our own tissues unharmed?

The body's protection system uses immune cells that scan for indicators of infection, including viruses and germs it has not met before.

These cells utilize sensors—known as recognition units—that are produced by chance in countless combinations.

That gives the defense network the capacity to combat a broad range of invaders, but the randomness of the mechanism unavoidably creates immune cells that can attack the body.

Protectors of the Body

Researchers previously understood that some of these harmful defense cells were eliminated in the immune organ—the site where immune cells develop.

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of regulatory T-cells—described as the body's "security guards"—which travel through the system to neutralize any defenders that assault the body's own tissues.

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

The Nobel panel added, "These findings have laid the foundation for a novel area of research and spurred the development of innovative treatments, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

Regarding cancer, T-regs block the system from fighting the growth, so studies are aimed at reducing their quantity.

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing boosting T-reg cells so the organism is not being harmed. A comparable approach could also be effective in reducing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Experiments

Professor Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, performed tests on mice that had their immune gland extracted, leading to autoimmune disease.

He showed that introducing defense cells from healthy mice could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a system for preventing immune cells from attacking the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at Sonoma Biotherapeutics in a California city, were studying an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and people that led to the identification of a genetic factor vital for how regulatory T-cells function.

"The groundbreaking research has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by regulatory T cells, stopping it from accidentally attacking the healthy cells," said a prominent physiology expert.

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