Ralph Steinman

Ralph Steinman (1943-2011) discovered dendritic cells — the sentinel antigen-presenting cells that connect innate and adaptive immunity and are central to cancer immunotherapy. He was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine three days after his death from pancreatic cancer (cancer he had treated with his own DC-based experimental therapy). His foundational work on DC biology underlies dendritic cell cancer vaccines, understanding of antigen presentation to T cells, and the entire field of adaptive cancer immunotherapy.