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This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been granted for transformative discoveries that clarify how the body's defense network attacks dangerous infections while protecting the body's own cells.

A trio of renowned researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and American experts Dr. Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell—share this honor.

Their research uncovered specialized "security guards" within the immune system that eliminate malfunctioning defense cells capable of harming the body.

The findings are now enabling innovative treatments for immune disorders and cancer.

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

Decisive Findings

"The research has been essential for comprehending how the body's defenses functions and the reason we do not all suffer from serious autoimmune diseases," commented the head of the award panel.

This trio's research explain a fundamental question: In what way does the immune system protect us from numerous invaders while leaving our healthy cells intact?

Our immune system employs white blood cells that scan for signs of disease, including pathogens and bacteria it has never encountered.

Such defenders employ detectors—called receptors—that are generated by chance in countless combinations.

That gives the defense network the capacity to combat a wide array of threats, but the unpredictability of the process unavoidably creates immune cells that may target the body.

Security Guards of the Immune System

Scientists earlier understood that some of these harmful defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—where immune cells mature.

This year's award honors the discovery of T-reg cells—described as the immune system's "security guards"—which patrol the system to neutralize any immune cells that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in self-attack conditions such as juvenile diabetes, MS, and rheumatoid arthritis.

The Nobel panel stated, "These discoveries have laid the foundation for a novel area of investigation and accelerated the creation of innovative treatments, for instance for cancer and immune disorders."

Regarding malignancies, T-regs prevent the body from attacking the tumor, so studies are focused on lowering their numbers.

For self-attack disorders, experiments are testing boosting T-reg cells so the body is no longer being harmed. A comparable approach could also be useful in reducing the risks of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Studies

Prof Shimon Sakaguchi, of Osaka University, conducted tests on rodents that had their thymus extracted, causing autoimmune disease.

The researcher demonstrated that introducing defense cells from healthy animals could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a system for preventing defenders from harming the host.

Mary Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, and Dr. Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in a California city, were investigating an genetic autoimmune disease in mice and humans that resulted in the discovery of a gene critical for the way T-regs function.

"The pioneering work has uncovered how the body's defenses is controlled by T-reg cells, preventing it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," said a leading physiology expert.

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