Two immunologists, James Allison from the University of Texas Austin and Tasuku Honjo from Kyoto University, have won the 2018 Nobel Medicine Prize for research that has revolutionised the treatment of cancer.

The pair were honoured 'for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation,' the Nobel Assembly said.

Immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy targets proteins made by some immune system cells, as well as some cancer cells.

The proteins can stop the body's natural defences from killing cancer cells.

The therapy is designed to remove this protein 'brake' and allow the immune system to more quickly get to work fighting the cancer.

Two immunologists, James Allison of the US (pictured) and Tasuku Honjo of Japan, won the 2018 Nobel Medicine Prize for research that has revolutionised the treatment of cancer

The pair were honoured 'for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation,' the Nobel Assembly said. Pictured is Kyoto University Professor Tasuku Honjo

THE NOBEL PRIZES Nobel prizes were initially awarded in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace. In 1969, another prize was added, The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel. Medicine is the first of the Nobel Prizes awarded each year. The Nobel Laureates are announced annually at the beginning of October. They are honoured in December, on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. Winners receive their prizes from the Swedish King. All Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo, Norway. Advertisement

Professor Allison studied a protein that acts as a brake on the immune system and the potential of releasing that brake.

Professor Honjo separately discovered a new protein on immune cells and eventually found that it also acts as a brake.

'Therapies based on his discovery proved to be strikingly effective in the fight against cancer,' the Stockholm-based assembly said in a statement.

Releasing the potential of immune cells to attack cancers joins other treatments including surgery, radiation and drugs.

In 2014 Professor Allison and Professor Honjo won the Tang Prize which is touted as Asia's version of the Nobels.

The duo will share the Nobel prize sum of nine million Swedish kronor (about $1.01 million/ 870,000 euros/ £770,000).

They will receive their prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10.

This is the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel in 1896 who created the prizes in his last will and testament.

'I'm honored and humbled to receive this prestigious recognition,' Professor Allison said in a statement released by the university's MD Anderson Cancer Centre in Houston, where he is a professor.

'A driving motivation for scientists 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,' he said.

'The Nobel Prize-winning discoveries made by these scientists has revolutionised not only our understanding of the immune system and cancer, but also the field of cancer treatment', said Professor Charles Swanton, Cancer Research UK's chief clinician.

'Thanks to this groundbreaking work, our own immune system's innate power against cancer has been realised and harnessed into treatments that continue to save the lives of patients.

'For cancers such as advanced melanoma, lung, and kidney, these immune-boosting drugs have transformed the outlook for many patients who had run out of options.'

The winners will receive their prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of Alfred Nobel who created the prizes in his last will and testament

WHAT DID THEY DO? James Allison of the University of Texas and Tasuku Honjo of Japan's Kyoto University did parallel work to stimulate the body's immune system's ability to attack tumours. The pair were honoured 'for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation,' the Nobel Assembly said. Immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy targets proteins made by some immune system cells, as well as some cancer cells. The proteins can stop the body's natural defences from killing cancer cells. The therapy is designed to remove this protein 'brake' and allow the immune system to more quickly get to work fighting the cancer. Professor Allison studied a protein that acts as a brake on the immune system and the potential of releasing that brake. Professor Honjo separately discovered a new protein on immune cells and eventually found that it also acts as a brake. 'Therapies based on his discovery proved to be strikingly effective in the fight against cancer,' the assembly said in a statement. Releasing the potential of immune cells to attack cancers joins other treatments including surgery, radiation and drugs. Advertisement

Last year, US geneticists Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young were awarded the medicine prize for their research on the role of genes in setting the 'circadian clock' which regulates sleep and eating patterns, hormones and body temperature.

The winners of this year's physics prize will be announced on Tuesday, followed by the chemistry prize on Wednesday.

The peace prize will be announced on Friday, and the economics prize will wrap up the Nobel season on Monday, October 8.

For the first time since 1949, the Swedish Academy has postponed the announcement of the 2018 Nobel Literature Prize until next year, amid a #MeToo scandal and bitter internal dispute that has prevented it from functioning properly.

Medicine is the first of the Nobel Prizes awarded each year.

The prizes for achievements in science, literature and peace were created in accordance with the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901.

Nobel prizes were initially awarded in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace.

The duo (pictured, on screen) will share the Nobel prize sum of nine million Swedish kronor (about $1.01 million/ 870,000 euros/ £770,000). They will receive their prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on December 10

WHO ARE THE PRIZE WINNERS? Professor James Allison from the University of Texas received his bachelor's degree in 1969 and doctorate in 1973 in biological science at The University of Texas at Austin. He is now chair of immunology and executive director of the Immunotherapy Platform at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. For decades, Professor Allison has studied how certain immune cells in our bodies, called T-cells, work. T-cells identify and wipe out foreign invaders, including bacteria and viruses. Professor Allison discovered that one molecule in T-cells, called CTLA-4, acts as a kind of brake. Some cancers defend themselves from our immune systems by activating these brakes. Professor Allison is currently involved in clinical trials that combine his anti-cancer drug with a second one that helps T-cells go after cancer. Metastatic melanoma patients started receiving this combined therapy more than three years ago, and so far, three in five are still alive. Professor Tasuku Honjo was born in 1942 and did his undergraduate at the School of Medicine at Kyoto University. He stayed on for his PhD and is now a professor emeritus at the university. His work has been described as initiating a historic turning point—a 'penicillin moment'—in the fight against cancer. He discovered an immunoregulatory molecule called PD-1. This has led to a new class of cancer drugs that unleash the body's own immune system against cancer. PD-1 is a protein produced on the surface of some T-cells and can be thought of as the 'brakes' of the immune system. The protein helps keep the immune system from running out of control and attacking normal, healthy cells. Professor Honjo thought that if PD-1 could be blocked then perhaps a patient's own immune system could be used against cancer cells. Today, PD-1 inhibitors such as the drugs nivolumab and pembrolizumab are showing promise for more effective treatment of certain types of cancer, such as melanoma. Advertisement

In 1969, another prize was added, The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel.

The Nobel Laureates are announced annually at the beginning of October, but are honoured in December, on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.

All Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded in Oslo, Norway.

During his life, Alfred Nobel started 87 companies all over the world and amassed an incredible fortune.

At the time of his death on December 10, 1896, he had 355 patents globally, including one for dynamite.

His will stipulated that the money should be used to establish prizes to award those who had done their best to benefit mankind.

In 2014 Professor Allison and Professor Honjo won the Tang Prize which is touted as Asia's version of the Nobels. They are pictured here with then Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou (centre)