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Why anti-CTLA-4 promotes better memory responses than anti-PD-1

In the clinic, anti-CTLA-4 induces more durable responses than anti-PD-1. In recent research, Mok et al. investigated possible mechanisms underlying this durability by using a variety of mouse tumor and vaccine models. They found that anti-CTLA-4...

Molecular dynamics at immune synapse lipid rafts influence the cytolytic behavior of CAR T cells

To relate clinical outcomes to molecular-level differences between CD28 and 4-1BB CAR T cells, Gad et al. investigated the CAR immune synapse (CARIS). Compared to 4-1BB CARs, CD28 CARs associated with...

A constitutive interferon-high immunophenotype defines response to immunotherapy in colorectal cancer

Acha-Sagredo, Andrei, and Clayton et al. used RNAseq of tumor epithelium and stroma separately to show that CRCs express an IFNhi or IFNlo profile, and that IFNhi expression by cytotoxic lymphocytes a...

Intracerebroventricular B7-H3-targeting CAR T cells for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma: a phase 1 trial

Repetitive ICV administration of B7-H3 CAR T cells was conducted in a first-in-human trial in children and adolescents with DIPG (n=21). Most AEs were of grade 1 or 2, while one grade 4 event (intracr...

Low-avidity T cells drive endogenous tumor immunity in mice and humans

Singhaviranon et al. analyzed neoepitope-specific CD8+ T cells of distinct avidities among TILs and LNs of two mouse cancers with different haplotypes and histologies. Only low-avidity T cells mediate...

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Previous Digests

Autologous neoantigen-directed T cell therapy shows promise in clinic

January 15, 2025

While major progress has been made in targeted and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy for melanoma, many patients do not respond or their response is not durable. To investigate a new approach for these patients, Borgers et al. performed...

What really happens when you block TIGIT and PD-L1 together

January 8, 2025

Both PD-1 and TIGIT are checkpoint molecules known to inhibit the antitumor effects of CD8+ T cells, and blocking them in combination has been shown to have synergistic immunotherapeutic effects. However, the exact mechanism and dynamics of this synergy...

Keeping it local: SynNotch-engineered T cells deliver payloads to specific tissues for a diverse range of applications

December 18, 2024

Immunotherapies are often used to target specific antigens or deliver specific payloads for the treatment of various diseases, but systemic toxicities or side effects in other tissues can limit the safety and efficacy of these treatments. Recently, two teams...

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ACIR's mission is to fast-track cancer immunotherapy research by helping researchers stay on top of the new literature in this fast-moving and multifaceted field, fostering their creativity and productivity in bringing us ever closer to curing this deadly disease.

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I am pleased to voice my support for the mission of ACIR to keep cancer immunotherapy researchers up to date with the current advancements in the field. Given the magnitude of new information emerging from this field, I particularly appreciate their efforts to both identify and highlight the key advancements each week and to distill the new information to key take-away points that can be easily grasped.

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Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School; Director, MGH Center for Cancer Immunology; Institute Member, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT

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