Paolo Dellabona, MD, PhD

Paolo Dellabona obtained a Medical Degree and a Ph.D. in Human Genetics from the University of Torino.

Since 1992 he is Joint-Head with Giulia Casorati of the Experimental Immunology Unit and, from 2014-2023, he also headed the Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Immunity at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute in Milano.

He contributed with Giulia Casorati and Antonio Lanzavecchia to the discovery of CD1-restricted T and Natural Killer T (NKT) cells, which have remained a long lasting scientific interest.

Their recent investigation of fundamental aspects of NKT cell biology has revealed the critical role for TCR signalling and miRNA-dependent post-transcriptional regulation in controlling development and effector maturation of these cells. In parallel, they have unravelled the protective role of NKT cells in both haematological and solid malignancies, showing their major role in the modulation of the tumor microenvironment.

Recently, the Casorati-Dellabona lab has also found that auto-reactive T cells restricted for CD1 isotypes are surprisingly frequent in the immune system. Furthermore, they have shown that a class of these T cells recognises a leukemia-associated self-lipid antigen (methyl lysophosphatidic acid), delineating a novel adoptive immunotherapy approach with T cells retargeted against CD1+ leukemia blasts.