Current Events

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Current Events
Who were the winners of this year’s noble prize in physiology and medicine? (2018)
This year’s Nobel prize in Medicine and Physiology was jointly awarded to James P. Allison and Tasuku Honjo. What were their contributions to science?
James P. Allison developed a new way of treating cancer patients. Upon studying and investigating a known protein and the role it plays as an immune system brake, he realized that there is away this brake can be released, leading to the unleash of immune cells to attack malignant cells (“The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2018”).
On the contrary, Tasuku Honjo also discovered a unique protein on the immune cells, and upon careful research on its functions, he deduced that it also worked as a brake, but with a different mode of action to Allison’s. This development has also been hailed as a landmark achievement in the fight against cancer. These two scientists have developed two unique ways involving immune system brakes that can be employed in cancer therapy. What were some methods that they have used?
Allison was among the many scientists that observed the T-cell protein CTLA-4 can function as a brake on the T-cells. A discovery that was utilized to fight autoimmune diseases. However, instead of concluding the research like his colleagues, Allison had different ideas about this landmark development. He had already come up with an antibody that could block CTLA-4 and inhibit its…