James Allison and Tasuku Honjo have received the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine for "the discovery of cancer therapy based on inhibition of negative immune regulation".

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The 2018 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded jointly to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.”

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Allison is 70 years old and was born in the United States; Honjo is 76 and is originally from Kyoto, Japan. Both discovered the existence of proteins that act as a brake on the immune system: if they are neutralised, the immune system is activated to fight the tumour.

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Their discoveries have introduced "an entirely new therapeutic mechanism in the fight against a type of disease that kills millions of people every year and represents one of the gravest threats to human health", explained the Assembly that awarded the two physicians the Nobel Prize.

Immunotherapy is already used in the treatment of certain cancers, alongside traditional methods. Further research is needed to understand why not all patients respond in the same way, but the results are promising.

The Nobel Prize in Medicine

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded every year by the Assembly of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. It was conferred for the first time on Emil Adolf von Behring in 1901. Last year Jeffrey C. Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael W. Young received it for discovering how living organisms regulate their biological rhythms in tune with the environment.

The 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine goes to James Allison and Tasuku Honjo for their contribution to the fight against cancer