2021
June
Treg endeavors in lymph nodes and tumors
June 30, 2021
Although Tregs maintain homeostasis and fend off autoimmunity, they can also dampen the antitumor immune response. Despite these major roles, key facets of Treg biology have remained unknown. For instance, how exactly do Tregs constrain self-activated T cell activity in secondary lymphoid organs? And what regulates Treg abundance and function in the TME...
Discussion with Patrick Ott, M.D., Ph.D. about the documentary "Jim Allison: Breakthrough"
June 24, 2021
Thank you for submitting your questions and comments about the documentary Jim Allison: Breakthrough. We have answered them in this recorded video with the help of Patrick Ott, oncologist and clinical director of the Melanoma Disease Center and Center for Immuno-Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. BONUS: We have extended free access...
Marking a tumor for destruction with radiation
June 23, 2021
Tumors with a low mutational burden generally respond poorly to immunotherapy. Given that radiotherapy can induce mutations in tumor cells and has been found to synergize with immunotherapy, Lussier, Alspach, and Ward et al. explored whether radiation of low mutation burden tumor cells induces neoantigens that can be recognized by T cells to...
A Fountain of Youth for T cell Function
June 16, 2021
With advancing age comes a decrease in immune function, which can also dampen responses to immunotherapy. Investigating this, Nakajima et al. compared T cell subsets, based on their expression of CD44 and CD62L, in young versus aged mice. Among CD8+ T cells, CD44lowCD62Lhigh (P1) cells are defined as naive, CD44highCD62Lhigh (P2) cells are...
IL-10 rejuvenates your exhausted T cells
June 9, 2021
While immunotherapies work great in some patients, for most, results are limited. One reason for the limited therapeutic response is the induction of an “exhausted” phenotype in CD8+ TILs. Aiming to reinvigorate exhausted CD8+ TILs in the TME, Guo and Xie et al. explored the effects of IL-10 treatment and combined it with...
Anti-CD40 agonist antibodies may be the way to go for bladder cancer
June 2, 2021
When patients are diagnosed with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer, intermediate- to high-risk patients typically undergo transurethral tumor resection, followed by intravesical treatment with Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) as the standard of care. However, up to 75% of patients ultimately become unresponsive to this treatment. Even with the recent approval of anti-PD-1 therapy in the BCG-unresponsive...
