Julie Dechanet-Merville

Julie Dechanet-Merville discovered that CMV infection drives massive expansions of Vdelta2-negative gamma-delta T cells with potent cross-reactive anti-tumor activity, revealing an unexpected link between viral immunity and cancer immunosurveillance. Her work showed that CMV-expanded gamma-delta T cells recognize stress-induced endothelial protein C receptor (EPCR) on tumor cells, providing a novel mechanism for MHC-independent tumor recognition. She investigates harnessing CMV-primed gamma-delta T cell populations as cancer immunotherapy effectors with enhanced persistence and memory properties.