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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)

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 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)

Allison’s and Honjo’s prize-winning work started in the 1990s and was part of significant advances in cancer immunotherapy. “In some patients, this therapy is remarkably effective,” Jeremy Berg, editor-in-chief of the Science family of journals, told The Associated Press. “The number of different types of cancers for which this approach to immunotherapy is being found to be effective in at least some patients continues to grow.” (Keyton and Heintz, 10/1)

In a statement to reporters after learning of his award, Allison said he was “honored and humbled.” For many scientists, he said, a driving motivation “is simply to push the frontiers of knowledge. I didn’t set out to study cancer, but to understand the biology of T cells, these incredible cells that travel our bodies and work to protect us.” (Begley, 10/1)

When Teresa McKeown was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, her disease was easily treated with standard therapies. But 11 years later, the cancer returned. This time, it morphed into what’s called triple-negative disease, an aggressive and difficult-to-treat form. “I had one therapy after another,” she said, “and failed them all.” (Swartz, 9/30)

A diagnosis of cancer, even an early-stage, highly curable cancer, can prompt some people to feel as if they’ve suddenly lost control of their future and that they must do whatever they can to regain it. They may seek guidance from the internet, friends and acquaintances, some of whom may be quick to relate tales of miraculous cures from alternative remedies that claim to spare patients the challenges of established cancer treatments like surgery, radiation and chemotherapy. (Brody, 10/1)