The SPI congratulates James Allison (University of Texas, USA) and Tasuku Honjo (Kyoto University, Japan) who have been awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation”! Their pioneering work on the immune checkpoints CTLA4 and PD1 revealed that these pathways act as ‘brakes’ of the immune system and showed that inhibition of these pathways in T cells makes them more effective at eradicating own cancer cells. The research of Allison and Honjo has laid the foundation for the clinical development of immune checkpoint inhibitors, which are currently used in medical practice and have greatly improved the life of many cancer patients. Undoubtedly, immunotherapy has changed the direction of cancer treatment for many years to come!