David DeNardo

David DeNardo has demonstrated that anti-CD40 agonist antibodies can reprogram immunosuppressive macrophages in the tumor microenvironment to become antigen-presenting cells capable of activating anti-tumor T cell immunity, with particular success in pancreatic cancer models that are resistant to T cell checkpoint blockade alone. His work showed that macrophage reprogramming with anti-CD40 overcomes the immunosuppressive stroma of pancreatic cancer. He has advanced combination strategies pairing anti-CD40 with checkpoint inhibitors. His research has been influential in clinical trial design for macrophage-targeting immunotherapy.