Tasuku Honjo
本庶佑
MD, PhD
Distinguished Professor, Institute for Advanced Study; Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Medicine高等研究院特别教授；医学研究科名誉教授
👥Biography 个人简介
Tasuku Honjo shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with James Allison for the discovery of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1). His identification of PD-1 as a negative regulator of T cells, and subsequent work demonstrating its role in tumor immune evasion, underpins the anti-PD-1/PD-L1 class of immunotherapies — now among the most prescribed cancer drugs globally, including pembrolizumab and nivolumab. Honjo's career at Kyoto University has also contributed fundamental insights into antibody class switching and AID enzyme function.
🧪Research Fields 研究领域
🎓Key Contributions 主要贡献
PD-1 Discovery
Identified PD-1 (programmed cell death 1) as a key inhibitory receptor on T cells, establishing the molecular target for the most widely used class of checkpoint immunotherapies.
Tumor Immune Evasion Mechanism
Demonstrated that tumors exploit the PD-1/PD-L1 axis to suppress anti-tumor immunity, providing the scientific rationale for anti-PD-1 therapy in cancer.
Antibody Diversification
Discovered activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), the enzyme responsible for somatic hypermutation and class switch recombination in B cells.
Representative Works 代表性著作
Induced Expression of PD-1, a Novel Member of the Immunoglobulin Gene Superfamily, upon Programmed Cell Death
EMBO Journal (1992)
Original paper reporting the discovery of PD-1, the molecular basis for an entire generation of cancer immunotherapies.
Tumor Immunoevasion by the Programmed Death 1-H1 Pathway
Journal of Experimental Medicine (2002)
Demonstrated that PD-L1 on tumors engages PD-1 on T cells to suppress anti-tumor immunity, directly inspiring therapeutic blockade strategies.
🏆Awards & Recognition 奖项与荣誉
📄Data Sources 数据来源
Last updated: 2026-01-15 | All information from publicly available academic sources
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Andrew H. Beck
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