2022
February
GD2-CAR T cell therapy shows promise against deadly pediatric cancer in early clinical trial
February 23, 2022
Pediatric patients with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) or other H3K27M-mutated diffuse midline gliomas (DMGs) have few treatment options, and a lethal prognosis. In an effort to fight these deadly cancers, Majzner and Ramakrishna et al. recently began a phase I clinical trial testing the use of CAR T cells directed at GD2, which is...
Chemo-induced innate lymphoid cells heat up the tumor environment
February 16, 2022
Immunologically cold tumors generally respond poorly to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Defining the mechanisms that can increase immune infiltration into these tumors is essential to improving ICB therapy efficacy. Cisplatin chemotherapy treatment has been shown to synergize with ICB by increasing immune cell infiltration in cold tumors, but the mechanisms behind this remain...
T cells reach tumor battleground via specialized blood vessels
February 9, 2022
Migration to and invasion of solid tumor tissue by lymphocytes is essential for antitumor immunity and response to virtually any type of immunotherapy. However, the mechanisms by which lymphocytes enter tumors through vasculature remain largely unclear. Therefore, Asrir, Tardiveau, Coudert, Laffont, and Blanchard et al. studied high endothelial vessels (HEVs) – specialized blood...
ICAM-1 helps tumor exosomes suppress immunity
February 2, 2022
Tumors employ diverse tactics to suppress CD8+ T cell immunity, one of which is secreting tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (TEVs) that express PD-L1. However, exactly how TEV PD-L1 interacts with CD8+ T cells remains unknown. Recently reported in Developmental Cell, Zhang and Zhong et al. uncovered a novel role of the adhesion molecule ICAM-...
