Jacques Banchereau

Jacques Banchereau is a founder of dendritic cell biology, whose seminal work characterizing DC subsets, maturation signals, and functional programs has been the foundation for all DC-based cancer immunotherapy approaches. His laboratory established that DCs are the most potent antigen-presenting cells capable of initiating primary T cell responses against tumor antigens. He has identified key cytokine and receptor signals that program DCs for anti-tumor immunity. His decades of fundamental DC research enabled the entire field of DC cancer vaccines.