James P. Allison, Tasuku Honjo accorded Nobel Prize 2018 in Physiology or Medicine

James P. Allison, Tasuku Honjo accorded Nobel Prize 2018 in Physiology or Medicine: Details, Highlights

Laureate James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo jointly awarded with the Nobel Prize-2018 in Physiology or Medicine by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska on 1st October 2018.

Laureate James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo were jointly accorded with the Nobel Prize “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation”.

Laureate James P. Allison studied a protein that functions as a brake on the immune system. He realized the potential of releasing the brake on immune cells to attack tumors. He developed this concept into a new approach for treating patients.

Tasuku Honjo discovered a protein on immune cells and revealed that it operates as a brake as well but with a different mechanism. Therapies based on this discovery proved to be strikingly effective in the fight against cancer.

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded once a year for outstanding discoveries in the fields of life sciences and medicine.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is one of five Nobel Prizes established in 1895 by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, in his will.

The first Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded in 1901 to the German physiologist Emil von Behring for his work on serum therapy and the development of a vaccine against diphtheria.

The first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was Gerty Cori, who received it in 1947 for her role in elucidating the metabolism of glucose.