Immune checkpoint inhibitors win the 2018 Nobel Prize.

ABSTRACT: The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Tasuku Honjo and James Allison for their discoveries in cancer immunology. Professor Honjo was awarded due to his discovery of the programmed death molecule-1 (PD-1) on T cells. Professor Allison discovered another important immunosuppressive molecule: cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen-4 (CTLA-4). Suppression of T cell activation by PD-1 and/or CTLA-4 is considered one of the major escape mechanisms of cancer cells. Inhibition of these molecules by immune checkpoint inhibitors can successfully activate the immune system to fight cancer. Checkpoint inhibitors have brought about a major breakthrough in cancer immunotherapy, reviving the hope of curing patients with end-stage cancer, including a wide variety of cancer types. In metast

SUBMITTER: Huang PW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6889239 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature