The 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded in part to Tasuku Honjo, distinguished professor and deputy director-general at the Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study (KUIAS).
Research Overview
Honjo is well known for his discovery of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) that is essential for class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation. He has established the basic conceptual framework of class switch recombination starting from discovery of DNA deletion (1978). Dr. Honjo identified a series of key molecules involved in immune regulation, including IL-4, IL-5, SDF-1, and IL-2R αchain. Also appreciated is his seminal contribution to developmental biology by identification of RBP-J as the Notch signaling target. In addition, he discovered PD-1 (program cell death 1), a negative coreceptor at the effector phase of immune response and demonstrated that PD-1 inhibition contributes to cancer treatments. Anti-PD-1 cancer immunotherapy has been approved in US, EU, and Japan. This treatment revolutionalized the cancer therapy and is considered to be equivalent to penicillin in infectious diseases.