2020
December
Stem-like TILs clean up your ACT
December 23, 2020
For decades, adoptive cell transfer (ACT) of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) has achieved durable tumor regressions, although not consistently. However, the ACT infusion product, which is isolated from tumors and expanded ex vivo, comprises a heterogeneous population of T cells. Recently, the observation that specific T cell states can mediate response to immune checkpoint...
High fat diet changes tumor cell metabolism resulting in T cell suppression
December 16, 2020
Although obesity is associated with cancer risk, the effects of obesity on the tumor microenvironment (TME) and antitumor immune responses are not fully known. Ringel and Drijvers et al. investigated how a high-fat diet shapes the TME using metabolic, proteomic, and genomic techniques. Their results, recently published in Cell, suggest that diet affects...
MEK inhibition induces stem cell memory in CD8+ T cells
December 9, 2020
In the past, studies have shown that inhibition of MEK (MEKi) increases antitumor immunity and leads to the accumulation of activated CD8+ T cells in the TME. While this strategy is known to synergize with checkpoint inhibitors and adoptive cell transfer, little is known regarding exactly how MEKi affects T cell function, differentiation...
Recruiting APCs with Flt3 ligand increases immunogenicity of NY-ESO-1-DC vaccine
December 2, 2020
Dendritic cell (DC)-targeting vaccines directed at inducing an immune response to tumor antigens can induce an antitumor immunity, but are limited in their activity and efficacy. Inducing more robust DC responses might enhance the immune response to these vaccines. Bhardwaj et al. evaluated the ability of the dendritic cell stimulator Flt3 ligand to...
