The Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded on Monday to three scientists for discovering how a particular kind of cell can stop the body’s immune system from attacking itself.

The discovery of these “regulatory T-cells” has raised hopes of finding new ways to fight autoimmune diseases and cancer, though treatments based on the work have yet to become widely available.

After Americans Mary Brunkow and Fred Ramsdell and Japan’s Shimon Sakaguchi were announced new Nobel laureates at a ceremony in Stockholm, here is what you need to know about their work.

– What is the immune system? –

The immune system is your body’s first line of defence against invaders such as microbes that could give you an infection.

Its most powerful weapons are white blood cells called T-cells. They seek out, identif

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