Nicholas Christian DeVito

Nicholas Christian DeVito
Medical Instructor in the Department of Medicine

I am an instructor of Medical Oncology who primarily treats patients with gastrointestinal malignancies. My laboratory and translational research is focused on tumor immune evasion and immunotherapy, with a specific interest in dendritic cell tolerance.

Current Research Interests

I am interested in tumor immunology and developmental immunotherapeutics in gastrointestinal malignancies including gastric cancer, colorectal adenocarcinoma, pancreatic adenocarcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, esophageal cancers, and hepatocellular carcinoma. My research focuses on metastatic mechanisms and how they influence tumor immune evasion during disease progression, particularly antigen presenting cells such as dendritic cells.

Current Appointments & Affiliations

Medical Instructor in the Department of Medicine, Medicine, Medical Oncology, Medicine 2018
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute, Duke Cancer Institute, Institutes and Centers 2018

Contact Information

DUMC Box 3052, Durham, NC 27710
Seeley G Mudd Bldg Room 471B, 10 Bryan Searle Drive, Durham, NC 27710
nicholas.devito@duke.edu

Background
Education, Training, & Certifications
- Hematology-Oncology Fellowship, Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine 2015 - 2018
- Internal Medicine Internship and Residency, Tufts University School of Medicine 2012 - 2015
- M.D., University of South Florida, College of Medicine 2012
Research
Selected Grants
- Investigating the Role of EMT-mediated Dendritic Cell Tolerization in Checkpoint Inhibitor Resistance awarded by Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation 2018 - 2022
- Investigating Oncogenic Signaling Pathways that Drive Wnt Ligand-mediated Immune Tolerance in Melanoma awarded by Conquer Cancer Foundation 2017 - 2018
External Relationships
- Society For Immunotherapy Of Cancer
Publications & Artistic Works
Selected Publications
- Academic Articles
  - Theivanthiran, Balamayooran, Tarek Haykal, Linda Cao, Alisha Holtzhausen, Michael Plebanek, Nicholas C. DeVito, and Brent A. Hanks. “Overcoming Immunotherapy Resistance by Targeting the Tumor-Intrinsic NLRP3-HSP70 Signaling Axis.” Cancers (Basel) 13, no. 19 (September 23, 2021). https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13194753.
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  - DeVito, Nicholas C., Michael Sturdivant, Balamayooran Thievanthiran, Christine Xiao, Michael P. Plebanek, April K. S. Salama, Georgia M. Beasley, et al. “Pharmacological Wnt ligand inhibition overcomes key tumor-mediated resistance pathways to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.” Cell Rep 35, no. 5 (May 4, 2021): 109071. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2021.109071.
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  - DeVito, Nicholas C., Colm Kelleher, Kyle C. Strickland, James Abbruzzese, Carey Anders, Brent A. Hanks, Jingquan Jia, et al. “A case report of microsatellite instability (MSI)-high, HER2 amplified pancreatic adenocarcinoma with central nervous system metastasis.” Ame Case Rep 5 (2021): 14. https://doi.org/10.21037/acr-20-154.
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  - Plebanek, Michael P., Michael Sturdivant, Nicholas C. DeVito, and Brent A. Hanks. “Role of dendritic cell metabolic reprogramming in tumor immune evasion.” Int Immunol 32, no. 7 (June 26, 2020): 485–91. https://doi.org/10.1093/intimm/dxaa036.
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  - Theivanthiran, Balamayoora, Kathy S. Evans, Nicholas C. DeVito, Michael Plebanek, Michael Sturdivant, Luke P. Wachsmuth, April Ks Salama, et al. “A tumor-intrinsic PD-L1/NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathway drives resistance to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.” J Clin Invest 130, no. 5 (May 1, 2020): 2570–86. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI133055.
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  - DeVito, Nicholas C., Michael P. Plebanek, Bala Theivanthiran, and Brent A. Hanks. “Role of Tumor-Mediated Dendritic Cell Tolerization in Immune Evasion.” Front Immunol 10 (2019): 2876. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2019.02876.
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  - Grant, Michael J., Nicholas DeVito, and April K. S. Salama. “Checkpoint inhibitor use in two heart transplant patients with metastatic melanoma and review of high-risk populations.” Melanoma Manag 5, no. 4 (December 2018): MMT10. https://doi.org/10.2217/mmt-2018-0004.
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  - Zhao, Fei, Kathy Evans, Christine Xiao, Nicholas DeVito, Balamayooran Theivanthiran, Alisha Holtzhausen, Peter J. Siska, Gerard C. Blobe, and Brent A. Hanks. “Stromal Fibroblasts Mediate Anti-PD-1 Resistance via MMP-9 and Dictate TGFβ Inhibitor Sequencing in Melanoma.” Cancer Immunol Res 6, no. 12 (December 2018): 1459–71. https://doi.org/10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-18-0086.
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  - Zhao, Fei, Christine Xiao, Kathy S. Evans, Tbalamayooran Theivanthiran, Nicholas DeVito, Alisha Holtzhausen, Juan Liu, et al. “Paracrine Wnt5a-β-Catenin Signaling Triggers a Metabolic Program that Drives Dendritic Cell Tolerization.” Immunity 48, no. 1 (January 16, 2018): 147-160.e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.immuni.2017.12.004.
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  - Kinsey, E. N., N. DeVito, W. Barrow, S. A. Myers, and A. K. S. Salama. “Paraneoplastic Production of Granulocyte-macrophage Colony-stimulating Factor and Granulocyte Colony-stimulating Factor in a Case of Rapidly Progressing Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma.” Clinical Skin Cancer 1, no. 1 (January 1, 2016): 20–22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsc.2016.11.004.
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  - DeVito, Nicholas, Evita Henderson, Gang Han, Damon Reed, Marilyn M. Bui, Robert Lavey, Lary Robinson, et al. “Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes for Solitary Fibrous Tumor (SFT): A Single Center Experience.” Plos One 10, no. 10 (2015): e0140362. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0140362.
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  - DeVito, Nicholas, Kit Mui, Yasir Jassam, Lynne Taylor, Monika Pilichowska, and Furha Cossor. “Small lymphocytic lymphoma presenting as a paraneoplastic syndrome with acute central nervous system demyelination.” Clin Lymphoma Myeloma Leuk 14, no. 4 (August 2014): e131–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clml.2014.02.006.
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  - DeVito, Nicholas C., and Muhammad Wasif Saif. “Advances in immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer: 2013.” Jop 14, no. 4 (July 10, 2013): 347–53. https://doi.org/10.6092/1590-8577/1646.
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  - Devito, Nicholas, Michael Yu, Ren Chen, and Edward Pan. “Retrospective study of patients with brain metastases from melanoma receiving concurrent whole-brain radiation and temozolomide.” Anticancer Res 31, no. 12 (December 2011): 4537–43.
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  - Assudani, Deepak, Hyun-Il Cho, Nicholas DeVito, Norma Bradley, and Esteban Celis. “In vivo expansion, persistence, and function of peptide vaccine-induced CD8 T cells occur independently of CD4 T cells.” Cancer Res 68, no. 23 (December 1, 2008): 9892–99. https://doi.org/10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-08-3134.
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- Book Sections
  - DeVito, N., M. A. Morse, B. Hanks, and J. M. Clarke. “Immune Checkpoint Combinations with Inflammatory Pathway Modulators.” In Current Cancer Research, 219–41, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63757-0_8.
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- Conference Papers
  - DeVito, Nicholas, Michael Sturdivant, Balamayooran Theivanthiran, Y-Van Nguyen, Michael Plebanek, and Brent Hanks. “923 Hedgehog signaling drives epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, immune evasion, and anti-PD-1 resistance through coordinated upregulation of Wnt ligands and PGE2 synthesis.” In Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, 9:A968–A968. BMJ, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2021-sitc2021.923.
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  - Plebanek, Michael, Nicholas DeVito, Fang Liu, Balamayooran Theivanthiran, Georgia Beasley, and Brent Hanks. “657 Characterization and therapeutic targeting of a tumor-associated tolerogenic DC subpopulation driven by SREBP2 and the mevalonate metabolic pathway.” In Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, 9:A685–A685. BMJ, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2021-sitc2021.657.
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  - Theivanthiran, Balamayooran, Fang Liu, Nicholas DeVito, Michael Plebanek, and Brent Hanks. “319 The tumor-intrinsic NLRP3 inflammasome establishes a pulmonary metastatic niche via type II epithelial HSP70/TLR4 signaling and facilitates disease hyperprogression in response to immunotherapy.” In Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, 9:A343–A343. BMJ, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2021-sitc2021.319.
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  - Sammons, Sarah, Andrew Elliott, Jeremy Meyer Force, Nicholas C. DeVito, Paul Kelly Marcom, Sandra M. Swain, Antoinette R. Tan, et al. “Genomic evaluation of tumor mutational burden-high (TMB-H) versus TMB-low (TMB-L) metastatic breast cancer to reveal unique mutational features.” In Journal of Clinical Oncology, 39:1091–1091. American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), 2021. https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2021.39.15_suppl.1091.
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  - DeVito, Nicholas, Michael Sturdivant, Luke Wachsmuth, John Strickler, Georgia Beasley, Rami Al-Rohil, April Salama, and Brent Hanks. “425 Investigation of Wnt ligand signaling regulators as a predictor of Anti-PD-1 response in metastatic melanoma.” In Regular and Young Investigator Award Abstracts. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1136/jitc-2020-sitc2020.0425.
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  - Theivanthiran, Balamayooran, Kathy Evans, Nicholas DeVito, Michael Plebanek, Michael Sturdivant, Alisha Holtzhausen, Luke Wachsmuth, et al. “A tumor PD-L1-NLRP3 inflammasome signaling axis drives adaptive resistance to anti-PD-1 immunotherapy.” In Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer, Vol. 7. BMC, 2019.
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  - DeVito, Nicholas C., Christine Xiao, Fei Zhao, Kathy S. Evans, Bala Theivanthiran, John Lewicki, Tim Hoey, Herbert Hurwitz, John H. Strickler, and Brent Allen Hanks. “Paracrine wnt-β-catenin signaling inhibition as a strategy to enhance the efficacy of anti-PD-1 antibody (Ab) therapy in a transgenic model of melanoma.” In Journal of Clinical Oncology, 35:3053–3053. American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), 2017. https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2017.35.15_suppl.3053.
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  - DeVito, Nicholas. “LITTLE KNOWN LYMPHOMA: SMALL LYMPHOCYTIC LYMPHOMA PRESENTING AS A PARANEOPLASTIC SYNDROME WITH ACUTE CNS DEMYELINATION.” In Journal of General Internal Medicine, 29:S384–S384. SPRINGER, 2014.
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  - Thievanthiran, Bala, Nicholas DeVito, Kathy Evans, and B. A. Hanks. “Inflammasome-Wnt Ligand Signaling Axis Promotes Immune Escape During Anti-PD-1 Antibody Immunotherapy.” In Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer. BioMed Central, n.d.
  - Hanks, B. A. “A HSP-TLR-Wnt5a Paracrine Signaling Axis Drives CXCR2 Ligand Recruitment of Myeloid-derived Suppressor Cells and Represents a Novel Adaptive Resistance Mechanism to Anti-PD-1 Antibody Therapy.” In Https://Jitc.Biomedcentral.Com/Track/Pdf/10.1186/S40425 017 0288 4?Site=Jitc.Biomedcentral.Com, n.d.
Scholarly, Clinical, & Service Activities
Presentations & Appearances
- Updates in the Management of Resected Pancreatic Cancer. Duke Cancer Review. Duke Cancer Network. July 2019 2019
- The Role of Immunotherapy in the Treatment of Advanced Gastroesophageal Cancers. Duke Cancer Network. February 2019 2019
Academic & Administrative Activities
- In addition to my research and clinical duties, I conduct fellowship interviews, teach residents and fellows during clinic and while on the 9300 inpatient medical oncology service, and give educational talks to fellows in both oncology and palliative care. I also participate in a directed mentoring program for aspiring laboratory and translational-based hematology/oncology fellows.
Clinical Activities
- I have a weekly clinic in medical oncology focused on gastrointestinal malignancies. I also attend the 9300 inpatient medical oncology service.

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Education, Training, & Certifications

Selected Grants

External Relationships

Selected Publications

Academic Articles

Book Sections

Conference Papers

Presentations & Appearances

Academic & Administrative Activities

Clinical Activities