Ralph Steinman

Ralph Steinman discovered dendritic cells in 1973, identifying the most potent antigen-presenting cells of the immune system and fundamentally changing understanding of how adaptive immune responses are initiated, a discovery recognized with the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. His demonstration that DCs are essential for T cell priming against tumor antigens provided the biological foundation for all DC-based cancer vaccines and checkpoint immunotherapy. He pioneered the use of DC vaccines for cancer treatment and personally received experimental DC-based therapy for his own pancreatic cancer. His discovery of dendritic cells was arguably the single most important advance enabling modern cancer immunotherapy.