:Tasuku Honjo

{{short description|Japanese immunologist and Nobel laureate (born 1942)}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Tasuku Honjo

| image = Tasuku Honjo 201311.jpg

| native_name = 本庶佑

| native_name_lang = ja

| caption = Honjo in 2013

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1942|1|27|df=y}}

| birth_place = Kyoto, Japan

| death_date =

| death_place =

| education = Kyoto University (BS, MD, PhD)

| known_for = {{ubl|Class switch recombination | IL-4, IL-5, AID | Cancer immunotherapy | PD-1}}

| awards = {{ubl|Imperial Prize (1996) | Koch Prize (2012) | Order of Culture (2013) | Tang Prize (2014) | Kyoto Prize (2016) | Alpert Prize (2017) | Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2018)}}

| nationality = Japanese{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Tasuku-Honjo | title=Tasuku Honjo | Biography & PD-1 | Britannica }}

| fields = Molecular Immunology

| workplaces = Kyoto University

| doctoral_advisor = {{ubl|Yasutomi Nishizuka | Osamu Hayaishi}}

| notable_students = Shizuo Akira

}}

{{Nihongo|Tasuku Honjo|本庶佑|Honjo Tasuku|extra=born January 27, 1942}}{{cite web |date=1 October 2018 |title=Tasuku Honjo – Facts – 2018 |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2018/honjo/facts/ |work=NobelPrize.org |publisher=Nobel Media AB |access-date=5 October 2018}} is a Japanese physician-scientist and immunologist. He won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and is best known for his identification of programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1).{{Cite Q|Q24293504}}

He is also known for his molecular identification of cytokines: IL-4 and IL-5,{{Cite Q|Q34106729|doi-access=free}} as well as the discovery of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) that is essential for class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation.{{cite web|url=http://www.robert-koch-stiftung.de/index.php?article_id=90&clang=1|title=Robert Koch Stiftung – Christine Goffinet|website=www.robert-koch-stiftung.de}}

He was elected as a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States (2001), as a member of German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina (2003), and also as a member of the Japan Academy (2005).

In 2018, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with James P. Allison.{{cite web |last1=Hannah |first1=Devlin |title=James P Allison and Tasuku Honjo win Nobel prize for medicine |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/oct/01/james-p-allison-and-tasuku-honjo-win-nobel-prize-for-medicine |work=The Guardian |access-date=1 October 2018|date=October 2018 }} He and Allison together had won the 2014 Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science for the same achievement.{{cite web |url=http://www.tang-prize.org/en/owner.php?cat=11&y=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020051653/http://www.tang-prize.org/en/owner.php?cat=11&y=2 |archive-date=2017-10-20 |title=2014 Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science |access-date=2016-06-18 |url-status=live }}

Life and career

File:Tasuku Honjo EM1B5529 (46157227432).jpg

Honjo was born in Kyoto in 1942. He completed his M.D. degree in 1966 from the Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, where in 1975 he received his Ph.D. degree in Medical Chemistry under the supervision of Yasutomi Nishizuka and Osamu Hayaishi."{{cite web|url=http://www.brh.co.jp/s_library/j_site/scientistweb/no37/|title=免疫のしくみに魅せられて－何ごとにも主体的に挑む|language=ja}}

Honjo was a visiting fellow at the Department of Embryology at Carnegie Institution of Washington, from 1971 to 1973. He then moved to the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, where he studied the genetic basis for the immune response at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development as a fellow between 1973 and 1977, followed by many years as an NIH Fogarty Scholar in Residence starting in 1992. During part of this time, Honjo also was an assistant professor at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Tokyo, between 1974 and 1979; a professor in the Department of Genetics, Osaka University School of Medicine, between 1979 and 1984; and professor in the Department of Medical Chemistry, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine, from 1984 to 2005. Since 2005 Honjo has been a professor in Department of Immunology and Genomic Medicine, Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine. He was the President of Shizuoka Prefecture Public University Corporation from 2012 to 2017.

He is a member of the Japanese Society for Immunology and served as its president between 1999 and 2000. Honjo is also an honorary member of American Association of Immunologists.{{cite web|url=https://www.aai.org/About/Allison-Honjo-Awarded-2018-Nobel-Prize|title=AAI Members Awarded the 2018 Nobel Prizein Physiology or Medicine|publisher=The American Association of Immunologists|access-date=October 4, 2018}} In 2017 he became Deputy Director-General and Distinguished Professor of Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study (KUIAS).

=COVID-19 pandemic=

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a disputed claim that Honjo believed that the novel coronavirus had been "manufactured" by a laboratory in the Chinese city of Wuhan was widely disseminated on the internet in many languages.{{cite web | title= Coronavirus: Trump is selling coronavirus coins and other claims fact-checked: Fake Nobel Prize winner quote |url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/52487960| author1= Jack Goodman| author2= Flora Carmichael| date= 2 May 2020| website= BBC News Online | access-date= 7 May 2020}} The BBC Reality Check team reported that, "In a statement published on the website of Kyoto University, he said he was 'greatly saddened' that his name had been used to spread 'false accusations and misinformation'.

Contribution

File:11 Hegasy CTLA4 PD1 Immunotherapy.png

Honjo has established the basic conceptual framework of class switch recombination. He presented a model explaining antibody gene rearrangement in class switch and, between 1980 and 1982, verified its validity by elucidating its DNA structure.{{Cite Q|Q34270140}} He succeeded in cDNA clonings of IL-4{{Cite Q|Q34161873}} and IL-5{{Cite Q|Q34162731}} cytokines involved in class switching and IL-2 receptor alpha chain in 1986, and went on further to discover AID{{Cite Q|Q29547201|doi-access=free}} in 2000, demonstrating its importance in class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation.

In 1992, Honjo first identified PD-1 as an inducible gene on activated T-lymphocytes, and this discovery significantly contributed to the establishment of cancer immunotherapy principle by PD-1 blockade.{{cite web|url=https://www.ms-fund.keio.ac.jp/en/prize/021.html|title=The Keio Medical Science Prize Laureates 2016 |publisher=Ms-fund.keio.ac.jp |access-date=2018-10-01}}

Recognition

File:Tasuku Honjo Susumu Nakanishi Ikuta Takagi Shinzo Abe Shunichi Iwasaki and Goichi Oda 20131103.jpg, Ken Takakura, Seikaku Takagi, Susumu Nakanishi and Honjo received the Order of Culture from Emperor Akihito on November 3, 2013. After that they posed for photo with Shinzō Abe at the East Garden of the Imperial Palace.]]

File:Masuo Aizawa and Tasuku Honjo 20100826.jpg

Honjo has received several awards and honors in his life. In 2016, he won the Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences for "Discovery of the Mechanism Responsible for the Functional Diversification of Antibodies, Immunoregulatory Molecules and Clinical Applications of PD-1". In 2018, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with American immunologist James P. Allison. They previously also shared the Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science in 2014.{{cite web |title=Tasuku Honjo |url=https://www.kyotoprize.org/en/laureates/tasuku_honjo/ |website=kyotoprize.org |publisher=Inamori Foundation |access-date=1 October 2018}}

= Awards =

The major awards and honors received by Honjo are:

1981 – Noguchi Hideyo-Memorial Award for Medicine
1981 – Asahi Prize{{cite web |title=The Asahi Prize [Fiscal 1981] |url=http://www.asahi.com/shimbun/award/asahi/english.html#1989 |publisher=The Asahi Shimbun Company |access-date=1 October 2018}}
1984 – Kihara Prize, Genetics Society of Japan
1984 – Osaka Science Prize{{cite web |title=Tasuko Hanjo |url=http://www2.mfour.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/E_CV.html |publisher=Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine |access-date=1 October 2018}}
1985 – Erwin von Baelz Prize
1988 – Takeda Medical Prize
1992 – Behring-Kitasato Award
1993 – Uehara Prize
1996 – Imperial Prize of the Japan Academy{{cite web |title=The Imperial Prize,Japan Academy Prize,Duke of Edinburgh Prize Recipients |url=http://www.japan-acad.go.jp/en/activities/jyusho/081to090.html |website=japan-acad.go.jp |publisher=The Japan Academy |access-date=1 October 2018}}
2000 – Person of Cultural Merit{{cite web |title=Person of Cultural Merit |url=http://www.osaka-u.ac.jp/en/guide/about/prize#bunkakourou |website=osaka-u.ac.jp |publisher=Osaka University |access-date=1 October 2018}}
2001 – Foreign Associate of U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
2012 – Robert Koch Prize
2013 – Order of Culture
2014 – William B. Coley Award
2014 – Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science
2015 – Richard V. Smalley, MD Memorial Award
2016 – Kyoto Prize{{cite web |title=Kyoto Prize, Inamori Foundation |url=https://www.kyotoprize.org/en/laureates/tasuku_honjo/ |website=Kyoto Prize, Inamori Foundation |access-date=18 April 2019 |language=en}}
2016 – Keio Medical Science Prize{{cite web |title=The 2016 Keio Medical Science Prize Laureate |url=http://www.ms-fund.keio.ac.jp/prize/winner/prize2016.html |website=ms-fund.keio.ac.jp |publisher=Keio University. |access-date=1 October 2018}}
2016 – Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award{{cite web |title=2016 Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award Announcement |url=http://fdsif.fudan.edu.cn/en/?p=338 |website=fdsif.fudan.edu.cn |publisher=Fudan Science and Innovation Forum |access-date=1 October 2018}}
2016 – Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates{{cite web |title=Hall of Citation Laureates |url=https://clarivate.com/hall-of-citation-laureates-2018/ |website=clarivate.com |publisher=Clarivate Analytics |access-date=1 October 2018}}
2016, 2017, 2019 – Asian Scientist 100, Asian Scientist{{cite web |url=https://www.asianscientist.com/as100/ |title=The Asian Scientist 100 |author= |date= |website= |publisher= Asian Scientist |access-date= 13 March 2025 |quote= |language= }}
2017 – Warren Alpert Foundation Prize{{cite web |title=Warren Alpert Foundation Prize Recipients |url=https://warrenalpert.org/prize-recipients |website=warrenalpert.org |publisher=Warren Alpert Foundation. |access-date=1 October 2018}}
2018 – Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine{{cite web |title=All Nobel Prizes |url=https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes/ |publisher=Nobel Foundation |access-date=3 October 2018}}

= Honorary doctorates =

2020 - Macau University of Science and Technology, China[https://www.must.edu.mo/en/2020-opening/honorary-doctors/professor-tasuku-honjo Biography of Professor Tasuku Honjo]
2021 - University of British Columbia, Canada[https://graduation.ubc.ca/event/ubc-honorary-degrees/2021-honorary-degree-recipients/ 2021 Honorary Degree Recipients | Graduation at UBC]
2024 - National Taiwan University, Taiwan (The first Japanese to receive an honorary doctorate from NTU) [https://www.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/news/2024-05-02-0 KUIAS Distinguished Professor Tasuku Honjo receives NTU Honorary Doctorate | KYOTO UNIVERSITY]

References

External links

{{Commons category-inline}}
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120825204437/http://www2.mfour.med.kyoto-u.ac.jp/E_Home.htm Tasuku Honjo Lab, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine]
[https://kuias.kyoto-u.ac.jp/e/profile/honjo/ Profile: Tasuku Honjo, Kyoto University Institute for Advanced Study]
{{Nobelprize}}

Category:1942 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century Japanese biochemists

Category:Japanese immunologists

Category:Academic staff of the University of Tokyo

Category:Academic staff of Osaka University

Category:Academic staff of Kyoto University

Category:Kyoto University alumni

Category:People from Kyoto

Category:Laureates of the Imperial Prize

Category:Kyoto laureates in Basic Sciences

Category:Recipients of the Order of Culture