According to the research, which was conducted by Marie Wahren-Herlenius, a professor of rheumatology at the Karolinska Institute, the research is related to the maintenance of the immune system as a means of us keeping it in equipment to fight all the possible microbes, yet still managing to avoid the autoimmune disease.
The 11 million Swedish kronor (or 1.17m) will be equally divided between Brunkow and Ramsdell, both 64, of the United States and Sakaguchi of Japan, 74.
They will also receive gold medals by the king of Sweden.
Their discoveries have provided a basis of a new area of research and catalyzed the creation of new therapies such as those of cancer and autoimmune diseases, the body that awarded the prize said in a statement.
According to the chair of the Nobel Committee, Olle Kampe, the work of the trio has been decisive to our knowledge of the operation of the immune system.
Sakaguchi made the first important discovery on their work in 1995. Another breakthrough came in 2001 by Brunkow and Ramsdell and then two years later Sakaguchi interrelated all of their work.
Nobel Committee Secretary-General Thomas Perlmann said he had called Sakaguchi by phone on Monday, and left voicemails to Brunkow and Ramsdell.
