American immunologist and Nobel laureate (born 1948)
James Patrick Allison (born August 7, 1948)[ 4] immunologist andNobel laureate who holds the position ofprofessor and chair ofimmunology and executive director ofimmunotherapy platform at theMD Anderson Cancer Center inHouston ,Texas .[ 5] MD Anderson Cancer Center .[ 6]
His discoveries have led tonew cancer treatments for the deadliest cancers. He is also the director of theCancer Research Institute (CRI) scientific advisory council. He has a longstanding interest in mechanisms ofT-cell development and activation, the development of novel strategies fortumor immunotherapy , and is recognized as one of the first people to isolate theT-cell antigen receptor complex protein .[ 7] [ 8]
In 2014, he was awarded theBreakthrough Prize in Life Sciences ; in 2018, he shared theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine withTasuku Honjo .[ 9] [ 10]
Allison was born on August 7, 1948, inAlice, Texas , the youngest of three sons of Constance Kalula (Lynn) and Albert Murphy Allison.[ 11] National Science Foundation –funded summer science-training program at theUniversity of Texas, Austin , and completing high-school biology by correspondence course atAlice High School .[ 12] [ 13] Bachelor of Science degree inmicrobiology from theUniversity of Texas, Austin , in 1969, where he was a member ofDelta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.
"At the time, I was working onasparaginase . I felt that I had to do medically related research in order to avoid going toVietnam because I was at the age of beingdrafted ."[ 14]
He earned hisdoctor of philosophy degree inbiological science in 1973, also from UT Austin, as a student of G. Barrie Kitto.[ 15] [ 16]
From 1974 to 1977, Allison worked aspostdoctoral fellow atScripps Clinic and Research Foundation inCalifornia . From 1977 to 1983, Allison worked as assistant biochemist and assistant professor atM D Anderson Research Division inSmithville, Texas .[ 17] [ 18] M D Anderson Research Division inSmithville, Texas .[ 18] [ 17] University of California, Berkeley in 1985 and was concurrently appointed professor at theUniversity of California, San Francisco from 1997.[ 19]
In 2004, he moved to theMemorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) inNew York City to become the director of the Ludwig Center for Cancer Immunotherapy and the chair of the immunology program as well as the Koch chair in immunologic studies and attending immunologist at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. He was a professor ofWeill Cornell Medicine and co-chair of the Department of Graduate Program in Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis atWeill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences from 2004 to 2012, and also aHoward Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator until 2012, when he left to join theMD Anderson Cancer Center in 2012. Since 2012 he has been chair of immunology atMD Anderson Cancer Center .[ 17]
He is a member of theNational Academy of Sciences and theNational Academy of Medicine (formerly Institute of Medicine), and is a fellow of theAmerican Academy of Microbiology and theAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science . He is director of theCancer Research Institute scientific advisory council. Previously, he served as president of theAmerican Association of Immunologists .[citation needed He is on the Research Advisory Board of Candel Therapeutics[ 20] [ 21]
Allison serves as a commentator in theCancer
Cancer Therapy by Inhibition of Negative Immune Regulation (CTLA4, PD1) Allison trained at Scripps Research under tumor-immunologist Ralph Reisfeld, Ph.D., professor emeritus, researching human leukocyte antigens (HLA) and T-cells and exploring the role HLA proteins play in enabling the immune system to distinguish self from invaders. In 1977, Allison and a colleague, G. N. Callahan, reported in a letter to Nature that they had found evidence that the immune system was prevented from attacking cancer cells due to antigens’ association with additional proteins. Finding the factors that inhibited the immune attack on cancer has been key to developing checkpoint-blockade cancer immunotherapies.[ 19]
In 1982, Allison first discovered the T-cell receptor.[ 22] University of California, Berkeley .[ 23] [ 24] CTLA-4 ) could lead to enhanced anti-tumor immune responses and tumor rejection.
This concept of blocking T-cell inhibitory pathways as a way of unleashing anti-tumor immune responses and eliciting clinical benefit laid the foundation for the development of other drugs that target T-cell inhibitory pathways, which have been labeled as "immune checkpoint therapies ".[ 12] ipilimumab (Yervoy), which was approved in 2011 by the FDA for the treatment ofmetastatic melanoma .[ 25]
Allison's research is in molecular immunology of theT-cell antigen receptor complex , co-stimulatory receptors, and other molecules involved in T-cell activation. He is particularly interested in finding signals that lead to differentiation ofnaive T-cells and also those that determine whether antigen receptor engagement will lead to functional activation or inactivation of T-cells. Once defined, the basic studies are used to develop new strategies for the treatment ofautoimmune diseases andimmunotherapy ofcancer . Most recently he has been interested in understanding the immune responses in cancer patients who respond to immunotherapy. He established the immunotherapy platform at MD Anderson Cancer Center to study immune responses in cancer patients.[ 26]
According to a quantitative analysis, Allison was the top-ranking recipient of the most prestigious international science awards in the period 2010–2019, having received 13 of the top 40 such awards in any field of science.[ 27]
In 2011 Allison won the Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award for Biotechnology and Medicine[ 28] American Association of Immunologists Lifetime Achievement Award .[ 29] Novartis Prize for Clinical Immunology . In 2014 he shared the firstTang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science withTasuku Honjo ,[ 1] Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research of theNational Foundation for Cancer Research , received the $3 millionBreakthrough Prize in Life Sciences , theCanada Gairdner International Award ,[ 30] Louisa Gross Horwitz Prize ,[ 31] Massry Prize [ 32] Harvey Prize [ 33] Technion Institute of Technology inHaifa . In 2015, he received theLasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award .[ 2] Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize .[ 34]
In 2017 he received theWolf Prize in Medicine ,[ 35] Warren Alpert Foundation Prize [ 36] Balzan Prize for Immunological Approaches in Cancer Therapy (this prize jointly withRobert D. Schreiber ).[ 37] King Faisal International Prize in Medicine,[ 38] Jessie Stevenson Kovalenko Medal and theAlbany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research.[ 39]
He, along withTasuku Honjo , was jointly awarded theNobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2018 for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation.[ 40] [ 41] [ 42]
He is the subject of the 2019 documentary film "Jim Allison: Breakthrough" directed by Bill Haney.[ 43] American Academy of Achievement in 2019.[ 44]
Allison married Malinda Bell in 1969. They have one son. They divorced in 2012. Allison metPadmanee Sharma in 2004. Allison and Sharma became collaborators and friends and married 10 years later in 2014. Allison is stepfather to her three children.[ 45]
Allison's mother died oflymphoma [ 19] prostate cancer in 2005.
He plays theharmonica for ablues band ofimmunologists andoncologists called the Checkpoints. He also plays with a local band called the Checkmates.[ 45]
^a b "First Tang Prize for Biopharmaceutical Science Awarded to James P. Allison, PhD, and Tasuku Honjo, MD, PhD" .www.tang-prize.org .The ASCO Post . July 10, 2014. RetrievedAugust 4, 2016 .^a b Foundation, Lasker."Unleashing the immune system to combat cancer | The Lasker Foundation" .The Lasker Foundation . Lasker Foundation. RetrievedAugust 4, 2016 . ^ "James Allison wins 2018 Dr. Paul Janssen Award for Biomedical Research" . RetrievedSeptember 11, 2018 .^a b "James P. Allison – Facts – 2018" .NobelPrize.org . Nobel Media AB. October 1, 2018. RetrievedOctober 5, 2018 .^ "James P. Allison" .^ "James P. Allison Institute" .^ "James Allison" .Cancer Research Institute . RetrievedAugust 4, 2016 .^ Blair, Jenny (May 2, 2014)."Raising the Tail" .The Alcalde Texas Exes . RetrievedOctober 3, 2018 . ^ "2014 Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science" .Archived from the original on October 20, 2017. RetrievedJune 18, 2016 .^ Devlin, Hannah (October 1, 2018)."James P Allison and Tasuku Honjo win Nobel prize for medicine" .the Guardian . RetrievedOctober 1, 2018 . ^ "FamilySearch.org" .FamilySearch . RetrievedDecember 5, 2023 .^a b Cavallo, Jo (September 15, 2014)."Immunotherapy Research of James P. Allison, PhD, Has Led to a Paradigm Shift in the Treatment of Cancer - The ASCO Post" .www.ascopost.com . ASCO Post. RetrievedAugust 4, 2016 . ^ Lopez, Monica (October 1, 2018)."Alice native Dr. James Allison awarded 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine" .Corpus Christi Caller Times . ^ Allison, James; Neill, Ushma S. (January 2016)."A conversation with James Allison" .The Journal of Clinical Investigation .126 (1):3– 4.doi :10.1172/JCI84088 .ISSN 1558-8238 .PMC 4701563 PMID 26727227 . ^ Barton, Jackson (October 2, 2018)."Alumni receives Nobel Prize for revolutionary cancer treatment" . The Daily Texan. Archived fromthe original on October 4, 2018. RetrievedOctober 3, 2018 . ^ Allison, James Patrick (1973).Studies on bacterial asparaginases: I. Isolation and characterization of a tumor inhibitory asparaginase from Alcaligenes Eutrophus. II. Insolubilization of L-Asparaginase by covalent attachment to nylon tubing The University of Texas at Austin .OCLC 43380316 .ProQuest 302714672 . ^a b c "James P. Allison, Ph.D. - Immunology - Faculty - MD Anderson Cancer Center" .faculty.mdanderson.org . RetrievedAugust 4, 2016 .^a b "James P. Allison" .MD Anderson Cancer Center . RetrievedAugust 2, 2025 .profile ^a b c "Meet the Carousing Texan Who Just Won a Nobel Prize" .WIRED . RetrievedOctober 25, 2018 .^ "James P. Allison PH.D." Candel Therapeutics . April 13, 2021. RetrievedSeptember 27, 2021 .^ "Advisory Board - Lytix Biopharma" .www.lytixbiopharma.com . RetrievedDecember 5, 2023 .^ Allison, JP; McIntyre, BW; Bloch, D (November 1982)."Tumor-specific antigen of murine T-lymphoma defined with monoclonal antibody" .Journal of Immunology .129 (5):2293– 300.doi :10.4049/jimmunol.129.5.2293 PMID 6181166 .S2CID 13249566 . ^ Leach, D. R.; Krummel, M. F.; Allison, J. P. (March 22, 1996). "Enhancement of Antitumor Immunity by CTLA-4 Blockade".Science .271 (5256). American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS):1734– 1736.Bibcode :1996Sci...271.1734L .doi :10.1126/science.271.5256.1734 .ISSN 0036-8075 .PMID 8596936 .S2CID 7215817 . ^ "UC Berkeley Cancer Research Lab » The Story of Yervoy (Ipilimumab)" .crl.berkeley.edu . RetrievedOctober 6, 2018 .^ Dreifus, Claudia (February 3, 2020)."The Contrarian Who Cures Cancers" . Quanta Magazine. RetrievedFebruary 4, 2020 . ^ "James P. Allison - Researcher Profile | Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center" . Memorial Sloan - Kettering Cancer Center. Archived fromthe original on January 6, 2013. RetrievedJanuary 10, 2013 .^ Meho, Lokman I. (2020)."Highly prestigious international academic awards and their impact on university rankings" .Quantitative Science Studies .1 (2):1– 25.doi :10.1162/qss_a_00045 S2CID 218488355 . ^ "Past winners" .brandeis.edu . Brandeis University. RetrievedOctober 1, 2018 .^ "Past Recipients" .The American Association of Immunologists . RetrievedSeptember 19, 2018 .^ Ackerman, Todd (April 4, 2014)."The scientist who just might cure cancer" . Houston Chronicle. RetrievedAugust 4, 2016 . ^ "Horwitz Prize Awarded for Work on Therapy That Uses the Immune System to Destroy Cancer Cells" . Cumc.columbia.edu. October 2, 2014. RetrievedOctober 1, 2018 .^ "2014 Massry Prize recipients noted for work in immunotherapy" .hscnews dated August 19, 2014 . August 19, 2014. RetrievedOctober 8, 2020 .^ Harvey Prize 2014 Archived July 2, 2015, at theWayback Machine ^ "Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter prize for pioneer work in cancer immunotherapy" .eurekalert date March 15, 2015 . Archived fromthe original on March 15, 2015. RetrievedOctober 8, 2020 .^ "Wolf Prize to be awarded to eight laureates from US, UK and Switzerland" . Jpost.com. January 3, 2017. RetrievedOctober 1, 2018 .^ "James Allison" .warrenalpert.org . RetrievedOctober 8, 2020 .^ "Fondazione Balzan" .www.balzan.org . Archived fromthe original on September 11, 2017. RetrievedSeptember 11, 2017 .^ "King Faisal International Prize 2018" . Kfip.org. April 1, 2018. Archived fromthe original on April 15, 2014. RetrievedOctober 1, 2018 .^ "Trailblazing Researchers in Immunotherapy Selected to Receive America's Most Distinguished Prize in Medicine" . Amc.edu. August 15, 2018. RetrievedOctober 1, 2018 .^ "Discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation" (PDF) . The Nobel Assembly. RetrievedOctober 1, 2018 .^ Hannah, Devlin (October 2018)."James P Allison and Tasuku Honjo win Nobel prize for medicine" .The Guardian . RetrievedOctober 1, 2018 . ^ "All Nobel Prizes" . Nobel Foundation. RetrievedOctober 3, 2018 .^ "Documentary Film | Jim Allison" .BREAKTHROUGH . RetrievedDecember 5, 2023 .^ "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement" .www.achievement.org .American Academy of Achievement .^a b Ackerman, Todd (December 30, 2015)."For pioneering immunotherapy researcher, the work is far from over" . Houston Chronicle. RetrievedAugust 4, 2016 .
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