Recognized with the 10th BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology and Biomedicine, American immunologist James Allison explains how his research on T-cell activation led to the development of cancer immunotherapy, by blocking immune checkpoints such as CTLA-4 and, later, PD-1. He highlights that these therapies, now approved for multiple tumors, have achieved long-term survival rates once considered unimaginable, and states that immunotherapy will become a fundamental pillar—alone or in combination—for treating many types of cancer.
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Biomedicine category has been granted, in its tenth edition, to American immunologist James P. Allison, whose research, says the jury, “had led to harnessing the immune system to combat cancer in patients and the development of new therapies.” Allison was the first to demonstrate
Recognized with the 10th BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Biology and Biomedicine, American immunologist James Allison explains how his research on T-cell activation led to the development of cancer immunotherapy, by blocking immune checkpoints such as CTLA-4 and, later, PD-1. He highlights that these therapies, now approved for multiple tumors, have achieved long-term survival rates once considered unimaginable, and states that immunotherapy will become a fundamental pillar—alone or in combination—for treating many types of cancer.
The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Biomedicine category has been granted, in its tenth edition, to American immunologist James P. Allison, whose research, says the jury, “had led to harnessing the immune system to combat cancer in patients and the development of new therapies.” Allison was the first to demonstrate that immunotherapy can treat cancer effectively, initiating an approach that “has provided clinical benefit to many cancer patients” and “stimulated the development of a new class of drugs employing the immune system to fight cancer.”
00:00 Introduction
00:06 What did your discovery mean for the advancement of cancer immunology?
02:25 At this moment, what is the current status of the development and clinical application of your research?
04:49 What are the next challenges you are working on?
