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

A trio of esteemed researchers—Japan's Prof. Sakaguchi and US experts Mary Brunkow and Dr. Ramsdell—share this honor.

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

The findings are now enabling innovative therapies for autoimmune diseases and cancer.

These winners will divide a prize fund worth 11m Swedish kronor.

Decisive Findings

"The research has been decisive for understanding how the immune system functions and the reason we do not all develop serious autoimmune diseases," commented the chair of the Nobel Committee.

This team's studies address a fundamental mystery: How does the immune system protect us from countless invaders while leaving our own tissues unharmed?

The immune system employs white blood cells that search for signs of disease, including pathogens and germs it has not met before.

Such defenders employ sensors—known as recognition units—that are generated by chance in countless variations.

This provides the immune system the ability to fight a broad range of threats, but the unpredictability of the mechanism inevitably produces immune cells that can attack the host.

Security Guards of the Body

Scientists previously understood that some of these problematic defense cells were destroyed in the immune organ—where immune cells develop.

This year's Nobel Prize recognizes the identification of T-reg cells—known as the body's "peacekeepers"—which travel through the body to neutralize any defenders that attack the healthy cells.

We know that this mechanism malfunctions in autoimmune diseases such as juvenile diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and RA.

The Nobel panel added, "The findings have laid the foundation for a novel area of investigation and accelerated the development of innovative treatments, for instance for tumors and autoimmune diseases."

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

In autoimmune diseases, experiments are testing boosting regulatory T-cells so the body is no longer under attack. A similar approach could also be effective in reducing the chances of transplanted organ rejection.

Innovative Studies

Prof Sakaguchi, of a Japanese institution, conducted tests on mice that had their thymus removed, leading to autoimmune disease.

He demonstrated that introducing immune cells from healthy animals could prevent the disease—suggesting there was a system for blocking immune cells from attacking the host.

Dr. Brunkow, from the Institute for Systems Biology in a US city, and Fred Ramsdell, now at a biotech firm in San Francisco, were studying an genetic immune disorder in mice and people that resulted in the identification of a genetic factor critical for the way regulatory T-cells operate.

"Their groundbreaking research has uncovered how the body's defenses is kept in check by T-reg cells, stopping it from accidentally targeting the healthy cells," commented a leading physiology expert.

"The work is a remarkable illustration of how fundamental physiological research can have broad implications for human health."