Nick DeVito
@ndevitomd.bsky.social
Assistant Prof, GI Oncologist @
Duke Cancer researching immunotherapy, metastasis, and the immune microenvironment.
#FirstGen. USouthFlorida alumnus. Tufts residency survivor.
Patients don’t fail treatments, treatments fail patients.
Opinions=mine
Duke Cancer researching immunotherapy, metastasis, and the immune microenvironment.
#FirstGen. USouthFlorida alumnus. Tufts residency survivor.
Patients don’t fail treatments, treatments fail patients.
Opinions=mine
“Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone.” A dose of wisdom from Edith Dawn over a hundred years ago #London
August 26, 2025 at 6:50 PM
“Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone.” A dose of wisdom from Edith Dawn over a hundred years ago #London
Ozzy! You will be missed, one of rock’s icons.
July 23, 2025 at 1:41 PM
Ozzy! You will be missed, one of rock’s icons.
Since we all probably need some palate cleansers in our timelines today, here are some carnivorous plant photos from Wilmington NC- venus fly traps only grow within 100 miles of here, no where else in the world!
June 22, 2025 at 11:47 AM
Since we all probably need some palate cleansers in our timelines today, here are some carnivorous plant photos from Wilmington NC- venus fly traps only grow within 100 miles of here, no where else in the world!
I am so honored by this teaching award, glad the new tumor immunology lecture has made such an impact - thank you Duke fellows!!
June 11, 2025 at 2:47 PM
I am so honored by this teaching award, glad the new tumor immunology lecture has made such an impact - thank you Duke fellows!!
I wrote this on the board in our inpatient oncology work room last November and it has stayed up since, so I thought I would share:
June 8, 2025 at 1:56 PM
I wrote this on the board in our inpatient oncology work room last November and it has stayed up since, so I thought I would share:
Lots of expensive booths with upscale lounges, virtual reality, robots, big screens, and of course lots of branded giveaways…
In my 10+ years of going to #ASCO25 and this is the only one I have been impressed by. We get to make gift bags for kids at @luriecancer.bsky.social!!! Thats doing it right.
In my 10+ years of going to #ASCO25 and this is the only one I have been impressed by. We get to make gift bags for kids at @luriecancer.bsky.social!!! Thats doing it right.
June 1, 2025 at 3:17 PM
Lots of expensive booths with upscale lounges, virtual reality, robots, big screens, and of course lots of branded giveaways…
In my 10+ years of going to #ASCO25 and this is the only one I have been impressed by. We get to make gift bags for kids at @luriecancer.bsky.social!!! Thats doing it right.
In my 10+ years of going to #ASCO25 and this is the only one I have been impressed by. We get to make gift bags for kids at @luriecancer.bsky.social!!! Thats doing it right.
1. EC+FOLFOX is standard of care in 1L Braf mut CRC
2. Don’t fear the Ipi in Msi-h! Minimal toxicity increase but more CURES with Ipi combo over aPd1 monotherapy
3. Kras g12c is moving up and will likely achieve approvals in the near future
4. Stg 4 MSS CRC patients - sequence tumors at dx always!
2. Don’t fear the Ipi in Msi-h! Minimal toxicity increase but more CURES with Ipi combo over aPd1 monotherapy
3. Kras g12c is moving up and will likely achieve approvals in the near future
4. Stg 4 MSS CRC patients - sequence tumors at dx always!
June 1, 2025 at 1:48 PM
1. EC+FOLFOX is standard of care in 1L Braf mut CRC
2. Don’t fear the Ipi in Msi-h! Minimal toxicity increase but more CURES with Ipi combo over aPd1 monotherapy
3. Kras g12c is moving up and will likely achieve approvals in the near future
4. Stg 4 MSS CRC patients - sequence tumors at dx always!
2. Don’t fear the Ipi in Msi-h! Minimal toxicity increase but more CURES with Ipi combo over aPd1 monotherapy
3. Kras g12c is moving up and will likely achieve approvals in the near future
4. Stg 4 MSS CRC patients - sequence tumors at dx always!
We didn’t get the cover art but here is my evil lil AI generated hedgehog warding off good immune cells in favor of suppressive ones. #Gli2
May 2, 2025 at 11:07 PM
We didn’t get the cover art but here is my evil lil AI generated hedgehog warding off good immune cells in favor of suppressive ones. #Gli2
The best Sunday mornings are homemade biscuit Sunday mornings #docswhocook
March 30, 2025 at 2:51 PM
The best Sunday mornings are homemade biscuit Sunday mornings #docswhocook
The CRUSH CRC 5k was such a fantastic event!! Thanks to everyone who participated! See you next year
March 22, 2025 at 9:23 PM
The CRUSH CRC 5k was such a fantastic event!! Thanks to everyone who participated! See you next year
Nbd just trying to resubmit a career defining K08 over here..
March 2, 2025 at 3:13 PM
Nbd just trying to resubmit a career defining K08 over here..
“Oversimplifying macrophage heterogeneity to M1/M2 is dangerous to our progress in immunotherapy”
Paraphrasing Dr. Ginhoux here, couldn’t agree more particularly in the era of single cell technologies.
Paraphrasing Dr. Ginhoux here, couldn’t agree more particularly in the era of single cell technologies.
February 25, 2025 at 4:34 PM
“Oversimplifying macrophage heterogeneity to M1/M2 is dangerous to our progress in immunotherapy”
Paraphrasing Dr. Ginhoux here, couldn’t agree more particularly in the era of single cell technologies.
Paraphrasing Dr. Ginhoux here, couldn’t agree more particularly in the era of single cell technologies.
I’ll wrap this up by saying that I am a first-gen doctor and scientist, raised by a single mom with little family support, and my career nor this work would not exist without the support from NIH-funded laboratories.
Federally funding biomedical research makes American Dreams happen.
Federally funding biomedical research makes American Dreams happen.
February 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
I’ll wrap this up by saying that I am a first-gen doctor and scientist, raised by a single mom with little family support, and my career nor this work would not exist without the support from NIH-funded laboratories.
Federally funding biomedical research makes American Dreams happen.
Federally funding biomedical research makes American Dreams happen.
This work was supported by the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation, Conquer Cancer Foundation, valuable collaborators and priceless patient participation. It was conducted in an NIH/NCI funded laboratory.
February 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
This work was supported by the Damon Runyon Cancer Foundation, Conquer Cancer Foundation, valuable collaborators and priceless patient participation. It was conducted in an NIH/NCI funded laboratory.
In sum, we define the Hedgehog transcription factor Gli2 as a hub of tumor immune evasion through Wnt ligand signaling and Prostaglandin E2 production.
February 24, 2025 at 7:09 PM
In sum, we define the Hedgehog transcription factor Gli2 as a hub of tumor immune evasion through Wnt ligand signaling and Prostaglandin E2 production.
We hope to use our Gli2 (hedgehog/EMT/Wnt/Prostaglandin) signatures as a biomarker to select patients with melanoma, colon cancer, and other malignancies and identify who may benefit from selective prostaglandin receptor inhibition and/or Wnt ligand inhibition
February 24, 2025 at 7:08 PM
We hope to use our Gli2 (hedgehog/EMT/Wnt/Prostaglandin) signatures as a biomarker to select patients with melanoma, colon cancer, and other malignancies and identify who may benefit from selective prostaglandin receptor inhibition and/or Wnt ligand inhibition
Coming full circle back to the clinic, we applied our Gli2 signature developed from the murine cell lines to an internal dataset and two external datasets. This shows a clear association of Gli2 activation and a lack of benefit from immunotherapy.
February 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Coming full circle back to the clinic, we applied our Gli2 signature developed from the murine cell lines to an internal dataset and two external datasets. This shows a clear association of Gli2 activation and a lack of benefit from immunotherapy.
Remember, Gli2 is activated in this model after escape too. Here, we found that again Wnt ligand inhibition improves response after anti-PD-1 escape, but EP2/EP4 inhibition enhanced anti-PD-1 response only PRIOR to escape.
February 24, 2025 at 7:07 PM
Remember, Gli2 is activated in this model after escape too. Here, we found that again Wnt ligand inhibition improves response after anti-PD-1 escape, but EP2/EP4 inhibition enhanced anti-PD-1 response only PRIOR to escape.
We began using the autochthonous BRAF/PTEN melanoma model (genetically induced melanoma rather than implanted cells), which we have shown to resist anti-PD-1 and respond to Wnt ligand inhibition after immunotherapy escape.
February 24, 2025 at 7:06 PM
We began using the autochthonous BRAF/PTEN melanoma model (genetically induced melanoma rather than implanted cells), which we have shown to resist anti-PD-1 and respond to Wnt ligand inhibition after immunotherapy escape.
Enough mechanism! Lets. Kill. Some. Tumors. TPST-1495 exhibited substantial monotherapy only in Gli2 active melanoma lines, and sensitized them to anti-PD-1 blockade. Even more effective with PORCN inhibition. Set difficulty to hard mode!
February 24, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Enough mechanism! Lets. Kill. Some. Tumors. TPST-1495 exhibited substantial monotherapy only in Gli2 active melanoma lines, and sensitized them to anti-PD-1 blockade. Even more effective with PORCN inhibition. Set difficulty to hard mode!
This is under further investigation, given the importance of these cells in immunotherapy resistance (inversely related to response and CXCL9 expression) and in liver metastasis, where Spp1 macs sequester and suppress CD8 T cells.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37535729/
aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37535729/
aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
February 24, 2025 at 7:06 PM
This is under further investigation, given the importance of these cells in immunotherapy resistance (inversely related to response and CXCL9 expression) and in liver metastasis, where Spp1 macs sequester and suppress CD8 T cells.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37535729/
aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37535729/
aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
Briefly, there are so many macrophages and M1/M2 is an incredibly insufficient classification system, I came to appreciate this when analyzing scRNAseq data. Here, our main finding was a reduction in Spp1+ macrophages with Wnt ligand inhibition.
February 24, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Briefly, there are so many macrophages and M1/M2 is an incredibly insufficient classification system, I came to appreciate this when analyzing scRNAseq data. Here, our main finding was a reduction in Spp1+ macrophages with Wnt ligand inhibition.