American, Japanese Scientists Share Nobel Prize In Medicine For Work That Opened Door For Immunotherapy
The Swedish Academy said that the work done by Drs. James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo constitutes “a landmark in our fight against cancer." The revolutionary treatment harnesses the body's own immune system to find and fight cancer.
The Wall Street Journal:
Nobel Medicine Prize Awarded To American, Japanese Scientists For Cancer Work
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.” Dr. Allison is chairman of the department of immunology at the University of Texas and has spent his career developing strategies for cancer immunotherapy. Mr. Honjo is a professor at the department of immunology and genomic medicine at Kyoto University. (Sugden and Chopping, 10/1)
The Guardian:
James P Allison And Tasuku Honjo Win Nobel Prize For Medicine
The discovery is transforming cancer treatments and has led to a new class of drugs that work by switching off the braking mechanism, prompting the immune cells to attack cancer cells. The drugs have significant side-effects, but have been shown to be effective – including, in some cases, against late-stage cancers that were previously untreatable. The Nobel assembly’s summary said Allison, who is professor and chair of immunology at the University of Texas’s MD Anderson Cancer Center, “studied a known protein that functions as a brake on the immune system. He realised the potential of releasing the brake and thereby unleashing our immune cells to attack tumours. He then developed this concept into a new approach for treating patients. (Devlin, 10/1)
The New York Times:
2018 Nobel Prize In Medicine Awarded To 2 Cancer Immunotherapy Researchers
Dr. Allison and Dr. Honjo, working separately, showed how certain proteins act as “brakes” on the immune system’s T-cells, limiting their ability to attack cancer cells, and that suppressing those proteins could transform the body’s ability to fight cancer. (10/1)
The Associated Press:
Nobel Prize: James P. Allison, Tasuku Honjo Awarded Medicine Accolade
Last year’s prize went to three Americans for work in identifying genes and proteins that work in the body’s biological clock, which affects functions such as sleep patterns, blood pressure and eating habits. (10/1)