The Nobel Assembly of the Karolinska Institute consist of 50 professors at the Stockholm facility  announced that the 2018 Nobel Prize 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.”

This year’s Nobel Prize constitutes a landmark in the fight against cancer. The discovery made by the two Medicine Laureates takes advantage of the immune system’s ability to attack cancer cells by releasing the brakes on immune cells.

2018 Nobel Prize laureate James P. Allison studied a protein that functions as a brake on the immune system. He realized the potential of releasing the brake and unleashing the immune cells to attack tumours. He developed this concept into a new approach for treating patients.

On the other hand Tasuku Honjo, awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize who discovered a protein on immune cells and revealed that it also operates as a brake, but with a different mechanism of action. Therapies based on his discovery proved to be strikingly effective in the fight against cancer.

Check out the pic Nobel Laureate Tasuku Honjo, surrounded by his team at Kyoto University, immediately after hearing the news that he had been awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Last year’s this prize was bestowed to three Americans for work in recognizing genes and proteins that work in the body’s biological clock, which affects functions such as sleep patterns, blood pressure and eating habits.

Worth mention here the physics prize is to be announced Tuesday, followed by chemistry while the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be declared on Friday. On a related note No literature prize is being awarded to this year.