Peripheral immune tolerance is one way the body helps keep the immune system from getting out of whack and attacking your own tissues instead of foreign invaders.

Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Dr. Shimon Sakaguchi won the Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance.

Their groundbreaking research on regulatory T cells, the immune system's 'security guards,' offers new avenues for treating cancer and autoimmune diseases by preventing the body from attacking itself...