2022
September
It takes two to tango: induction of innate and adaptive immunity with new vaccine strategy
September 28, 2022
Strategies that induce robust activation of both the innate and adaptive branches of the immune system are warranted for effective immunotherapy. To this end, Fujii, Kawamata, and Shimizu et al. developed a novel therapeutic vaccine platform consisting of antigen-expressing artificial adjuvant vector cells (aAVC). This strategy was assessed in a phase I trial...
Exploiting TCR affinity for therapeutic targeting of neoantigens
September 21, 2022
The oncogene KRAS is mutated in many cancer types, with the most common mutations being G12D, G12V, and G12C. As an intracellular protein, it is inaccessible to antibody-based therapy strategies. However, T cell receptors can detect the mutated proteins presented as peptide-HLA (pHLA), suggesting that these proteins can be targeted with TCR-based therapeutics...
Keeping interferons in the tumor to improve outcome and toxicity
September 14, 2022
While intratumoral therapy with type I interferons (IFNs) may have favorable antitumor effects, the treatment is limited by rapid tumor clearance and off-target systemic toxicity. To circumvent these issues, Lutz et al. developed a strategy in which engineered IFNs are co-injected with aluminum-hydroxide (alum) particles, which anchor them in the tumor microenvironment. Data...
Tumor-specific and tissue-resident memory T cells may hold the key in TNBC
September 7, 2022
Investigating the importance CD39+CD8+ T cells in prognosis and in the success of immune checkpoint blockades for breast cancer, Lee et al. examined the heterogeneity of CD8+ T cells obtained from different compartments, including primary tumors, metastatic lymph nodes (mLNs), and peripheral blood, and characterized cellular phenotypes and functionalities of T cells using...
