Tasuku Honjo
| Tasuku Honjo | |
|---|---|
Tasuku Honjo
|
|
| Native name | 本庶 佑 |
| Born |
January 27, 1942 Kyoto, Japan |
| Nationality | Japanese |
| Fields | Molecular Immunology |
| Institutions | Kyoto University |
| Alma mater | Kyoto University |
| Doctoral advisor |
Yasutomi Nishizuka Osamu Hayaishi |
| Known for |
Class switch recombination IL-4 IL-5 ACD PD-1 |
| Notable awards |
Imperial Prize (1996) Robert Koch Prize (2012) Order of Culture (2013) Tang Prize (2014) William B. Coley Award (2014) Kyoto Prize (2016) |
Tasuku Honjo (本庶 佑 Honjo Tasuku?, born January 27, 1942 in Kyoto) is a Japanese immunologist, best known for his identification of Programmed Cell Death Protein 1 (PD-1). He is also known for his molecular identification of cytokines: IL-4 and IL-5, as well as the discovery of Activation-induced Cytidine Deaminase (ACD) that is essential for class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation.
Honjo completed his M.D. in 1966 from the Faculty of Medicine, Kyoto University, where in 1975 he received his doctorate in Medical Chemistry under the supervision of Yasutomi Nishizuka and Osamu Hayaishi. Since 1982 he has been Professor and Chairman of the Department of Medical Chemistry, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine.
Honjo was elected as a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences, USA (2001), as a member of German Academy of Natural Scientists Leopoldina (2003), and also as a member of the Japan Academy (2005).
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. He succeeded in cDNA clonings of IL-4 and IL-5 cytokines involved in class switching and IL-2 receptor alpha chain in 1986, and went on further to discover ACD in 2000, demonstrating its importance in class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation.
...
Wikipedia