Nobel Prize Awarded To MD Anderson Immunologist

HOUSTON, TX — The chair of immunology and executive director of the Immunotherapy Platform at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Jim Allison, Ph.D. had launched an effective new way to attack cancer by treating the immune system rather than the tumor, MD Anderson wrote in a news release. Allison shares the award with Tasuku Honjo, M.D., Ph.D., of Kyoto University in Japan.

“By stimulating the ability of our immune system to attack tumor cells, this year’s Nobel Prize laureates have established an entirely new principle for cancer therapy,” the Nobel Assembly of Karolinska Institute in Stockholm said.

Allison is the first MD Anderson scientist to receive the world’s most prestigious award for discoveries in life sciences and medicine. Allison started his career at MD Anderson in 1977. He was one of the first employees of a new basic science research center located in Smithville, Texas. He was recruited back to MD Anderson in November 2012 to lead the Immunology Department. While there, he established an immunotherapy research platform for MD Anderson’s Moon Shots Program, the center stated. The Nobel Assembly specifically recognized Allison's basic science discoveries on the biology of T cells, the adaptive immune system’s soldiers, and the invention of immune checkpoint blockade to treat cancer, MD Anderson wrote.

“I’m honored and humbled to receive this prestigious recognition,” Allison said in the news release. “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 to travel our bodies and work to protect us.”

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Photo via University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center