"Cancer immunologists scoop medicine Nobel prize"

Immunologists, James Allison, and Tasuku Honjo, went against conventional wisdom to "pioneer treatments that unleash the body's own immune system to attack cancer cells." These two scientists will share the 2018 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine:

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06751-0

Points from this article:

- " Allison's and Honjo's discoveries have added a new pillar in cancer therapy."

- "The pair showed how proteins on immune cells can be used to manipulate the immune system so that it attacks cancer cells."

- treatments involving these therapies have produced "dramatic results...long-term remissions, raising the possibility of a cure."

- "The seminal discoveries by two laureates constitutes a paradigmatic shift and a landmark in the fight against cancer."

- in this article, James Allison describes the resistance he met; pharmaceutical companies said although it worked in mice models, it would never work in humans. For years, fellow scientists were not interested, until this treatment gained traction and success. Now, it's a hot area in cancer research.

- Although early on considered a maverick, Allison's perseverance paid off.

(He has also played the harmonica on stage with Willie Nelson.)

 

December 10, 2018, CBC radio program about science, creativity, Dr. James Allison, Nobel prize winner, noted above, others who followed hunches that didn't work out:

https://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/radio.html

From this CBC Radio program: Dr. Gregory Feist, studies psychology of science and creativity at San Jose State University, California: " The key to scientific success is to recognize when the evidence is pointing to your hunch being wrong, or risk veering into pseudoscience..."