Jeffrey Pollard

Jeffrey Pollard made the landmark discovery that tumor-associated macrophages promote cancer metastasis rather than suppress it, demonstrating through elegant genetic mouse models that CSF1-dependent macrophages are essential for breast cancer metastasis to the lungs. His work established that TAMs promote tumor angiogenesis, invasion, and intravasation through EGF/CSF1 paracrine signaling with tumor cells. He has identified macrophage-derived factors that prepare the pre-metastatic niche. His research fundamentally shifted the paradigm of macrophage function in cancer from anti-tumor to pro-tumoral.