Two researchers change cancer rules win Nobel Prize for Medicine..

American James Allison and Japan's Tasuko Hongo won the 2018 Nobel Prize for Medicine for their discoveries, which have been a breakthrough in the immune system's fight against cancer. Their research in the 1990s led to new, highly developed treatments for cancers such as skin and lung cancer, which were difficult to treat in the past.

"The critical findings of the two winners are a milestone in our fight against cancer," the Nobel Society at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden said in a statement.

"Alison and Hongo explained how different strategies can be used to discourage immune system brakes in cancer treatment."

The Nobel Prize for Medicine is the first Nobel Prize awarded every year. The awards are awarded in recognition of achievements in the fields of science, literature and peace based on the will of inventor dynamite businessman Alfred Nobel since 1901. The Nobel Prize for Literature was blocked this year after a sex scandal that shocked its donor.

The winners of the Medicine Prize studied proteins that prevent the body and key immune cells known as T cells from attacking tumor cells effectively. Allison, a professor at the MD Anderson Cancer Institute at the University of Texas, studied a protein that acts as a brake on the immune system and found that immune cells could be used to attack tumors if the brake stopped.

Hongo, a professor at Kyoto University since 1984, has discovered separately a second protein in immune cells that acts as a brake to the immune system but with a different mechanism. Thomas Perlman, secretary of the Nobel Committee at the Karolinska Institute, told a news conference that he spoke with Hongo on the phone just before the announcement.

"He looked very happy ... he seemed surprised and clearly expressed his happiness to receive the award ... and sharing with Allison" A parliament said he had not spoken to Allison yet.

"This treatment, which changed the rules of the game in the fight against cancer, has revolutionized the thinking of many other means by which the immune system can be activated or unleashed to combat cancer and other diseases," said Dan Davis, a professor of immunology at the University of Manchester.

"I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. Many treatments of this kind are looming. "