Vincenzo Bronte MD

Prof. Vincenzo Bronte, M.D., started his research career at the University of Padova (Italy) then moved to the Surgery Branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH, Bethesda, USA) in Dr. Restifo’s laboratory, where he was actively involved in cancer immunology and immunotherapy researches. During these years, Prof. Bronte was among the pioneers to define and characterize myeloid cells with immunoregulatory functions that are now called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) and whose activity can restrain the efficacy of novel immunotherapeutic drugs. After that experience abroad, Prof. Bronte returned to Italy at the University of Padova/Azienda Ospedaliera and Verona University, continuing his studies in tumor immunology. During his career, Prof.Bronte contributed to the characterization of the molecular and enzymatic pathways that control and drive the MDSC-dependent immunosuppressive activity. He discovered, for the first time, MDSCs in tumor-bearing mice and the immune regulatory role for the metabolism of the amino acid arginine by the enzymes nitric oxide synthase and arginase. He participated to exploit MDSC as a potential biomarker of cancer patient clinical stage and response to therapy, as well as defining molecular targets to alter their negative effects in tumor-bearing hosts, a concept that is now tested in several clinical trials. Prof. Bronte published findings showing that arginase and nitric oxide synthase enzymes activities in human prostate cancer cells can restrain the activation of tumor-infiltrating T cells.