# Tasuku Honjo

_Japanese professor of immunology and genomic medicine (1942–)_

Canonical: https://diginpl.com/people/tasuku-honjo
Last updated: 2026-10-31

> Tasuku Honjo (本庶 佑, Honjo Tasuku; born January 27, 1942) 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). 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 (AID) that is essential for class switch recombination and somatic hypermutation.

## Quick facts

- **Born:** 27 January 1942 ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2395341#P569))
- **Place of birth:** Kyoto ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2395341#P19))
- **Citizenship:** Japan ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2395341#P27))
- **Occupation:** immunologist; biochemist; university teacher; physician ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2395341#P106))
- **Education:** Kyoto University; Yamaguchi Prefectural Ube High School ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2395341#P69))
- **Awards:** Tang Prize; Asahi Prize; Imperial Prize of Japan Academy; Person of Cultural Merit; Robert Koch Prize; Order of Culture; William B. Coley Award; Keio Medical Science Prize; Kyoto Prize in Basic Sciences; Clarivate Citation Laureates; Warren Alpert Foundation Prize; Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine; honorary doctor of the Aix-Marseille University ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2395341#P166))
- **X (Twitter):** HonjoTasuku ([Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2395341#P2002))

## About

He was elected as an international member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States in 2001, a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in 2003, and as a member of the Japan Academy in 2005. In 2018, he was awarded a Nobel Prize  with James P. Allison. He and Allison together had won the 2014 Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science for the same achievement.

## Questions

**When was Tasuku Honjo born?**  
Tasuku Honjo was born on 27 January 1942 in Kyoto.

**Where did Tasuku Honjo study?**  
Tasuku Honjo was educated at Kyoto University, Yamaguchi Prefectural Ube High School.

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## Sources

- [Wikipedia (English): Tasuku Honjo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tasuku_Honjo) — [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)
- [Wikidata item Q2395341](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2395341) — [CC0 1.0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- [Image: Tasuku Honjo 201311.jpg by 大臣官房人事課 (CC BY 4.0)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tasuku_Honjo_201311.jpg)

## Licence and attribution

Text from the Wikipedia article Tasuku Honjo, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. This page's text is shared under the same licence. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Tasuku Honjo 201311.jpg — 大臣官房人事課, CC BY 4.0.

## Cite this page

"Tasuku Honjo". DigiNepal. Last updated 31 October 2026. https://diginpl.com/people/tasuku-honjo. Retrieved 14 November 2026.