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Jan 27, 2023 · Allison, a Nobel laureate whose research led to the discovery of the T-cell antigen receptor and the anti CTLA-4 antibody ipilimumab, and director of James P. Allison Institute, Regental Chair of Immunology, and vice president of immunobiology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, said to The Cancer Letter. Allison is also the Olga Keith Wiess ...
During the 1990s, Allison studied a protein on the surface of T cells called CTLA-4. He was one of several scientists who observed that CTLA-4 functions as a brake on T cells, preventing them from attacking invaders, and thus also regulating the immune cells to avoid them attacking our own tissues.
- Taking The Brake Off T Cells
- The Power of Curiosity
- Allison’s Start in Science
- First Stop: Smithville
- There’S Still Work to Be Done
The Nobel Prize recognizes Allison’s breakthrough work with T cells, the “soldiers” of the immune system that battle invaders and abnormal cells like cancer, bacteria and viruses. While T cells are fierce opponents of disease, they don’t attack every invader that comes along. If they did, the body would be in a constant state of fever, rash, inflam...
“I never dreamed my research would take the direction it has,” says Allison, whose mother died of lymphomawas he was just 10. “It’s a great, emotional privilege to meet cancer patients who’ve been successfully treated with immune checkpoint blockade. They are living proof of the power of basic science, of following our urge to learn and to understa...
The son of a country doctor, Allison grew up in Alice, Texas, seemingly destined for medical school. A lifelong interest in understanding how things work, and observing his father practicing medicine day-in and day-out, led to a decisive conclusion. “I had a pretty good look at what it’s like to be a physician. As a doctor, you can’t make mistakes,...
Allison started his career at MD Anderson in 1977, arriving as one of the first employees of the institution’s Science Park, a new basic science research center located in Smithville, Texas, where he made his first major discoveries. He was recruited back to MD Anderson in 2012 to lead the Immunology Department and to establish an immunotherapy res...
Under his leadership, with Scientific Director Padmanee Sharma, M.D., Ph.D., the immunotherapy platform conducts immune monitoring by analyzing tumor samples before, during and after treatment, in order to understand why these drugs work for some patients but not all. The platform works with more than 100 immunotherapy clinical trialsat MD Anderson...
Without gas pedal signaling, T cells remained apathetic while the tumor grew and spread. Curious, Allison and Krummel wondered what would happen if the foot came off the brake pedal in T cells. Using antibodies that block CTLA4, the T cells activated and attacked the cancer cells.
In 1996, James P. Allison and coworkers used this accumulated knowledge to demonstrate that antibodies directed against a cell surface molecule on T cells, CTLA-4, is capable of unleashing an immune response, which cured mice from tumors.
We clearly demonstrated that CTLA-4 was an inhibitory signal on T cells, which was the first time that an inhibitory pathway had been described for T cell responses, and we showed that blockade of CTLA-4 could lead to tumor eradication.
People also ask
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Apr 18, 2014 · In the early 1980s, Allison was one of the first to identify the T cell receptor—the part of a T cell that binds to antigen and functions as the T cell’s ignition switch. A few years later, in 1992, he showed that a molecule called CD28 functions as the T cell’s gas pedal.
