James P Allison and Tasuku Honjo win Nobel prize for medicine

[hinterland]

Wessely, White and Sharpe overlooked again...

https://www.theguardian.com/science...bel-prize-for-medicine?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

The scientists’ groundbreaking work on the immune system has paved the way for a new class of cancer drugs that are already dramatically changing outcomes for patients. It is the first time the development of a cancer therapy has been recognised with a Nobel prize.

Prof Dan Davis, of the University of Manchester..... and it has sparked a revolution in thinking about the many other ways in which the immune system can be harnessed or unleashed to fight cancer and other illnesses. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg – many more medicines like this are on the horizon.”

PS: I’m not sure this work has any direct implications for ME/CFS, where, as I understand it, if anything, we’re trying to dampen down immune reactivity.

 

[TrixieStix]

This new WIRED article goes into much more detail about James Allison and his career and research from beginning to now. It's long, but quite interesting.

Meet the Carousing, Harmonica-Playing Texan Who Just Won a Nobel for his Cancer Breakthrough

"The war on cancer is not over; we have not achieved a full and total cure, and so far the handful of cancer immunotherapy drugs available have demonstrated robust and durable results in a minority of patients. But we have undeniably turned a corner in our understanding of the disease—what many scientists believe to be a “penicillin moment” in our quest for the cure.

The CTLA-4-blocking drug Ipilumimab, approved by the FDA in 2015, was the first of a new class of drugs called “checkpoint inhibitors” and the beginning of what researchers refer to as a tsunami of new cancer treatments. The pace of progress is staggering, such that we now recognize that what Allison discovered is not only the end of that 100-year scientific mystery, but also the the beginning of a new chapter in medicine. Already, new therapies such as CAR-T have essentially wiped out some forms of cancer; the newest checkpoint inhibitors have turned stage-four metastatic death sentences into full remission. This work has only just begun. And while it’s hopeful, it’s not hype."


https://www.wired.com/story/meet-jim-allison-the-texan-who-just-won-a-nobel-cancer-breakthrough/