Two scientists received the Nobel Prize for the discovery of cancer therapy

As stated when the winners were announced, prior to the discoveries made by the newly-crowned laureates, clinical progress in the fight against cancer was very modest. «Immune checkpoint therapy» has revolutionized cancer treatment and fundamentally changed the way cancer is fought.

James Allison and Tasuku Honjo Win the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine /Niklas Elmehed / Nobel Prize 2018

Tasuku Honjo, 76, a renowned Japanese immunologist at Kyoto University, is the author of papers on the molecular identification of cytokines and the PD1 protein. He was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. His discoveries led to new treatments for the most deadly cancers. He is recognized as the first person to isolate the T-cell antigen receptor complex protein.

The Nobel Prize in Medicine is determined by the Assembly of 50 professors at Karolinska University in Stockholm. Nominations are kept secret for 50 years. After this period, interesting facts can be learned. For example, Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, was nominated for the prize a whopping 32 times. Freud never received the Nobel Prize. In particular, in 1929, one of the Nobel Committee’s experts concluded that Freud’s work lacked proven scientific merit. Incidentally, Freud also failed to win the 1936 Nobel Prize in Literature, although he had a chance: he was nominated for the award by writer Romain Roland.

Traditionally, the media and scientific circles discuss potential winners. STAT, for example, was betting not only on Gordon Freeman of the Dana-Farber Cancer Research Institute and Dr. Arlene Sharp of Harvard Medical School, but also on one of the 2018 laureates, James Allison of the MD Anderson Cancer Center, for their achievements in immuno-oncology, which help us understand how immune cells destroy tumors.