William Coley

William Coley is recognized as the father of cancer immunotherapy for his pioneering work in the late 19th and early 20th centuries injecting bacterial toxins (Coley's toxins) into cancer patients, achieving remarkable tumor regressions in sarcomas and other cancers through innate immune activation decades before the molecular basis of immunity was understood. His systematic documentation of over 1,000 cases of bacterial toxin-treated cancers provided the first evidence that immune system activation could eliminate malignant tumors. His work was marginalized for decades during the rise of radiation and chemotherapy but has been vindicated by the modern immunotherapy revolution. He is now celebrated as a visionary who recognized the anti-tumor potential of the immune system over a century before checkpoint inhibitors.