# Mikael Pittet

Mikaël Pittet is a Swiss research scientist.

## Biography

Mikaël J. Pittet (born May 23, 1975, in Lausanne (Switzerland) is Professor of Immunology at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), holder of the ISREC Foundation Chair in immuno-oncology and full Member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Lausanne Branch.
Mikaël Pittet completed his PhD thesis in Immunology at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and graduated from University of Lausanne (Switzerland) in 2001. Following his degrees, he moved to Boston (USA) where he pursued post-doctoral research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Dana–Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI). Pittet became Assistant Professor at HMS in 2006, Associate Professor in 2013, and Full Professor in 2019 (Department of radiology). He was named Samana Cay MGH Research Scholar in 2015 and appointed Director of the Cancer immunology program at the Center for systems biology in 2016. He was also a member of the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center and Immunology Program at Harvard Medical School.
He joined the University of Geneva (Switzerland) in 2020 as a Full Professor of Immunology, and holds the ISREC Foundation Chair in immuno-oncology. He was appointed a full Member of the Ludwig Institute in 2021. Pittet also leads the Translational Research Center in Oncohaematology (CRTOH) at the University of Geneva since 2022 and is a member of the Center for inflammation research. He is equally a member of the Department of oncology of the Geneva University Hospitals.
The Pittet Lab is located in Lausanne (Switzerland) in the AGORA cancer research center, which brings together interdisciplinary research groups of the Swiss Cancer Center Léman (SCCL) Léman (SCCL) working to accelerate the transfer of cancer research into the clinic.
Mikaël Pittet serves on the editorial board of the journals Cell Stress and Cancer Immunology Research.

## Research

Pittet is a widely cited researcher in cancer immunology and cancer immunotherapy, especially in the fields of innate and adaptive immunity. His research focuses on uncovering how the immune system controls cancer and other diseases and how it can be harnessed for therapy. He is known for utilizing molecular imaging to track immune cells and drugs directly in vivo. Pittet's work has identified how cancers are regulated by various immune cells, including cytotoxic T cells, regulatory T cells, macrophages, monocytes, neutrophils, and dendritic cells. These cells are considered as drug targets in cancer immunotherapy.

## Publications

As of 2022, Pittet has authored 146 publications in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to several textbooks. His work has been cited >40,000 times and he has an h-index of >80.

## Awards and honors

Pittet's work has been honored with the 2015 Samana Cay MGH Research Scholarship Award, the 2016 Robert Wenner Award, the 2016 Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy of Radiology Research, and the 2017 MGH Mentoring Award. He also received a Honorary Master of Arts Degree from Harvard University in 2019 and is recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher based on his multiple papers that rank in the top 1% by citations across fields and during the last decade.

## Selected publications

* Pittet MJ, Valmori D, Dunbar PR, Speiser DE, Liénard D, Lejeune F, Fleischhauer K, Cerundolo V, Cerottini JC, Romero P (1999). "High frequencies of naive Melan-A/MART-1-specific CD8(+) T cells in a large proportion of human histocompatibility leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A2 individuals". J Exp Med. 190 (5): 705–15. doi:10.1084/jem.190.5.705. PMC 2195613. PMID 10477554.
* Zippelius A, Batard P, Rubio-Godoy V, Bioley G, Lienard D, Lejeune F, Rimoldi D, Guillaume P, Meidenbauer N, Mackensen A, Rufer N, Lubenow N, Speiser D, Cerottini J, Romero P, Pittet MJ (2004). "Effector function of human tumor-specific CD8 T cells in melanoma lesions: a state of local functional tolerance". Cancer Res. 64 (8): 2865–73. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.can-03-3066. PMID 15087405.
* Mempel TR, Pittet MJ, Khazaie K, Weninger W, Weissleder R, von Boehmer H, von Andrian UH (2006). "Regulatory T cells reversibly suppress cytotoxic T cell function independent of effector differentiation". Immunity. 25 (1): 129–41. doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2006.04.015. PMID 16860762.
* Nahrendorf M, Swirski FK, Aikawa E, Stangenberg L, Wurdinger T, Figueiredo JL, Libby P, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (2007). "The healing myocardium sequentially mobilizes two monocyte subsets with divergent and complementary functions". J Exp Med. 204 (12): 3037–47. doi:10.1084/jem.20070885. PMC 2118517. PMID 18025128.
* Swirski FK, Libby P, Aikawa E, Alcaide P, Luscinskas FW, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (2007). "Ly-6Chi monocytes dominate hypercholesterolemia-associated monocytosis and give rise to macrophages in atheromata". J Clin Invest. 117 (1): 195–205. doi:10.1172/JCI29950. PMC 1716211. PMID 17200719.
* Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (April 2008). "Imaging in the era of molecular oncology". Nature. 452 (7187): 580–9. Bibcode:2008Natur.452..580W. doi:10.1038/nature06917. PMC 2708079. PMID 18385732.
* Swirski* FK, Nahrendorf* M, Etzrodt M, Wildgruber M, Cortez-Retamozo V, Panizzi P, Figueiredo JL, Kohler RH, Chudnovskiy A, Waterman P, Aikawa E, Mempel TR, Libby P, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (2009). "Identification of Splenic Reservoir Monocytes and Their Deployment to Inflammatory Sites". Science. 325 (5940): 612–6. Bibcode:2009Sci...325..612S. doi:10.1126/science.1175202. PMC 2803111. PMID 19644120.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
* Pittet MJ, Weissleder R (2011). "Intravital imaging". Cell. 147 (5): 983–91. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2011.11.004. PMC 3824153. PMID 22118457.
* Cortez-Retamozo V, Etzrodt M, Newton A, Rauch PJ, Chudnovskiy A, Berger C, Ryan RJ, Iwamoto Y, Marinelli B, Gorbatov R, Forghani R, Novobrantseva TI, Koteliansky V, Figueiredo JL, Chen JW, Anderson DG, Nahrendorf M, Swirski FK, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (2012). "Origins of tumor-associated macrophages and neutrophils". Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 109 (7): 2491–6. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109.2491C. doi:10.1073/pnas.1113744109. PMC 3289379. PMID 22308361.
* Bronte V, Pittet MJ (2013). "The spleen in local and systemic regulation of immunity". Immunity. 39 (5): 806–18. doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2013.10.010. PMC 3912742. PMID 24238338.
* Squadrito ML, Etzrodt M, De Palma M, Pittet MJ (2013). "MicroRNA-mediated control of macrophages and its implications for cancer". Trends Immunol. 34 (7): 350–9. doi:10.1016/j.it.2013.02.003. PMC 3700601. PMID 23498847.
* Cortez-Retamozo V, Etzrodt M, Newton A, Ryan R, Pucci F, Sio SW, Kuswanto W, Rauch PJ, Chudnovskiy A, Iwamoto Y, Kohler R, Marinelli B, Gorbatov R, Wojtkiewicz G, Panizzi P, Mino-Kenudson M, Forghani R, Figueiredo JL, Chen JW, Xavier R, Swirski FK, Nahrendorf M, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (2013). "Angiotensin II Drives the Production of Tumor-Promoting Macrophages". Immunity. 38 (2): 296–308. doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2012.10.015. PMC 3582771. PMID 23333075.
* Weissleder R, Nahrendorf M, Pittet MJ (2014). "Imaging macrophages with nanoparticles". Nat Mater. 13 (2): 125–38. Bibcode:2014NatMa..13..125W. doi:10.1038/nmat3780. PMID 24452356.
* Pfirschke C, Engblom C, Rickelt S, Cortez-Retamozo V, Garris C, Pucci F, Yamasaki T, Poirier-Colame V, Newton A, Redouane Y, Lin YJ, Wojtkiewicz G, Iwamoto Y, Mino-Kenudson M, Huynh TG, Hynes RO, Freeman GJ, Kroemer G, Zitvogel L, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (2016). "Immunogenic Chemotherapy Sensitizes Tumors to Checkpoint Blockade Therapy". Immunity. 44 (2): 1–12. doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2015.11.024. PMC 4758865. PMID 26872698.
* Pucci F, Garris C, Lai CP, Newton A, Pfirschke C, Engblom C, Alvarez D, Sprachman M, Evavold C, Magnuson A, von Andrian UH, Glatz K, Breakefield XO, Mempel TR, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (2016). "SCS macrophages suppress melanoma by restricting tumor-derived vesicle–B cell interactions". Science. 352 (6282): 242–246. Bibcode:2016Sci...352..242P. doi:10.1126/science.aaf1328. PMC 4960636. PMID 26989197.
* Engblom C, Pfirschke C, Pittet MJ (2016). "The role of myeloid cells in cancer therapies". Nat Rev Cancer. 17 (4): 375–8. doi:10.1038/nrc.2016.54. PMID 27339708. S2CID 21924175.
* Arlauckas SP, Garris CS, Kohler RH, Kitaoka M, Cuccarese MF, Yang KS, Miller MA, Carlson JC, Freeman GJ, Anthony RM, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (2017). "In vivo imaging reveals a tumor-associated macrophage–mediated resistance pathway in anti–PD-1 therapy". Sci Transl Med. 9 (389): eaal3604. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aal3604. PMC 5734617. PMID 28490665.
* Engblom C, Pfirschke C, Zilionis R, Da Silva Martins J, Bos SA, Courties G, Rickelt S, Severe N, Baryawno N, Faget J, Savova V, Zemmour D, Kline J, Siwicki M, Garris C, Pucci F, Liao HW, Lin YJ, Newton A, Yaghi OK, Iwamoto Y, Tricot B, Wojtkiewicz GR, Nahrendorf M, Cortez-Retamozo V, Meylan E, Hynes RO, Demay M, Klein A, Bredella MA, Scadden DT, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (2017). "Osteoblasts remotely supply lung tumors with cancer-promoting SiglecFhigh neutrophils". Science. 358 (6367): eaal5081. doi:10.1126/science.aal5081. PMC 6343476. PMID 29191879.
* Pittet MJ, Garris CS, Arlauckas SP, Weissleder R (2018). "Recording the wild lives of immune cells". Science Immunology. 3 (27): eaaq0491. doi:10.1126/sciimmunol.aaq0491. PMC 6771424. PMID 30194240.
* Garris CS, Arlauckas SP, Kohler RH, Trefny MP, Garren S, Piot C, Engblom C, Pfirschke C, Siwicki M, Gungabeesoon J, Freeman GJ, Warren SE, Ong S, Browning E, Twitty CG, Pierce RH, Le MH, Algazi AP, Daud AI, Pai SI, Zippelius A, Weissleder R, Pittet MJ (2018). "Successful Anti-PD-1 Cancer Immunotherapy Requires T Cell-Dendritic Cell Crosstalk Involving the Cytokines IFN-γ and IL-12". Immunity. 49 (6): 1–14. doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2018.09.024. PMC 6301092. PMID 30552023.
* Zilionis R, Engblom C, Pfirschke C, Savova V, Zemmour D, Saatcioglu HD, Krishnan I, Maroni G, Meyerovitz CV, Kerwin CM, Choi S, Richards WG, De Rienzo A, Tenen DG, Bueno R, Levantini E, Pittet MJ, Klein AM (2019). "Single-Cell Transcriptomics of Human and Mouse Lung Cancers Reveals Conserved Myeloid Populations across Individuals and Species". Immunity. 50 (5): 1317–1334.e10. doi:10.1016/j.immuni.2019.03.009. PMC 6620049. PMID 30979687.
* Gerhard G, Bill R, Messemaker M, Klein AM, Pittet M (2021). "Tumor-infiltrating dendritic cell states are conserved across solid human cancers". Journal of Experimental Medicine. 218 (1). doi:10.1084/jem.20200264. PMC 7754678. PMID 33601412.
* Siwicki M, et al. (2021). "Resident Kupffer cells and neutrophils drive liver toxicity in cancer immunotherapy". Science Immunology. 6 (61). doi:10.1126/sciimmunol.abi7083. PMC 8845079. PMID 34215680.
* Di Pilato M, Kfuri-Rubens R, Pruessmann J, Ozga A, Messemaker M, Cadilha B, Sivakumar R, Cianciaruso C, Warner R, Marangoni F, Carrizosa E, Lesch S, Billingsley J, Perez-Ramos D, Zavala F, Rheinbay E, Luster A, Gerner M, Kobold S, Pittet MJ, Mempel T (2021). "CXCR6 positions cytotoxic T cells to receive critical survival signals in the tumor microenvironment". Cell. 184 (17): 4512–4530.e22. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2021.07.015. PMC 8719451. PMID 34343496.
* Migliorini D, Michielin O, Pittet MJ (2022). "Clinical relevance of tumour-associated macrophages". Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology. 19 (6): 402–421. doi:10.1038/s41571-022-00620-6. PMID 35354979. S2CID 247781238.