2021
February
Tumors don’t want an invite to the TCR-T cell party
February 24, 2021
Given that it is consistently expressed by tumor cells and contributes to malignant transformation, the HPV E7 antigen is an interesting target for immunotherapy in HPV-associated carcinomas. Nagarsheth et al. previously developed a high avidity TCR that recognizes the E711-19 antigen complexed with HLA-A*02:01. The TCR-T cells containing this E7-targeting TCR were assessed...
Trust a first responder’s gut
February 17, 2021
A growing understanding of the gut microbiome has uncovered critical roles in regulating host immunity, metabolic health, and progression of diseases such as cancer. Recently, the composition of the microbiome has been linked to anti-PD-1 therapeutic response. Fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), in which favorable bacterial species (in this case, those conducive to anti-PD-...
Multiple routes lead to Rome: new insights in TIL origins
February 10, 2021
Even though TILs predict survival and response to immune checkpoint inhibition in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the origins of these cells remain largely unknown. Gueguen and Metoikidou et al. performed single-cell RNAseq (scRNAseq) and TCRseq (scTCRseq) on tumors, healthy adjacent tissue (juxtatumor), and peripheral blood to investigate CD8+ TIL differentiation and origin...
NeoVax: A Long-Term Follow-up
February 3, 2021
“Durable immunity is a hallmark of successful vaccination,” according to Hu, Leet, and Allesøe et al. in a paper published in Nature Medicine. The team of researchers recently followed up on the long-term effects of vaccination with NeoVax, a long-peptide vaccine that targets up to 20 personal neoantigens per patient. Their recent data extends...
