RIYADH – Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Sabeel, secretary general of King Faisal International Prize (KFIP), congratulated Prof. James P. Allison, the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Medicine.



Allison, a renowned immunologist, on Tuesday shared the Nobel Prize for his discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.



"This was for the 19th time a former laureate of King Faisal International Prize steps to pick the world's most prestigious award, the Nobel Prize in various branches. This once again confirms the accuracy of the standards, the efficiency of the evaluation and nomination procedures applied by the KFIP,” Al-Sabeel said.



Al-Sabeel said that all the scientists who bagged both King Faisal International Prize and the Nobel Prize were winners of several other prestigious international prizes.



Allison, an immunologist at the MD Anderson Cancer Centre at the University of Texas, US and Tasuku Honjo, of Kyoto University, Japan were awarded the prize for discovering how to unlock the power of the immune system to destroy tumors.



He has been awarded the 2018 King Faisal Prize in Medicine for his outstanding contribution to the development of the field of immunotherapy for cancer. He identified CTLA-4 as an inhibitory receptor of T-cells and pioneering the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors for the treatment of a range of cancers.



Both Allison and Honjo discovered distinct proteins that were responsible for blocking the immune response: CTLA-4 and PD-1. By understanding these immune "brakes", the two had found potential new targets for therapy. Those discoveries sparked a revolution for specific cancer treatments. -- SG/SPA



