2023
September
Exhausted but still active: subpopulation of TIL responds to anti-PD-1 in HNSCC
September 27, 2023
Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) targeting PD-1 is increasingly used as neoadjuvant therapy. However, the mechanisms and cell types determining ICB responses remain poorly understood. Oliveira, Egloff, Afeyan, et al. compared T cell activation status and dynamics in responders and non-responders to neoadjuvant pembrolizumab in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC)...
Better together: Vaccination with linked CD4+ and CD8+ T cell neoantigens synergizes with anti-PD-1
September 20, 2023
Neoantigen vaccination and immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) are both strategies that can be employed to enhance antitumor T cell responses, but both are often met with resistance, and their use in combination has not been fully explored. Investigating these strategies in tumors with low mutation burdens, Dolina et al. found that immunization with...
Overcoming toxicity of pan-hematological CAR-T with epitope editing
September 13, 2023
CAR T cell therapy for hematological cancers can be highly effective, but is currently limited to antigens that are only expressed by tumor cells or by lineages that are non-essential. Targeting antigens expressed by all tumor cells is often associated with on-target/off-tumor toxicities to normal hematopoietic cells. Two recent papers used epitope editing...
RIGging up extracellular vesicles for antitumor immunity
September 6, 2023
As a form of communication/signaling, cells frequently release extracellular vesicles (EVs). While EVs released by cancer cells have previously been associated with immune evasion and cancer progression, they can also potentially carry tumor antigens and stimulate immune responses. Investigating the mechanisms that govern cancer EV biogenesis, cargo, and functions, Heidegger and Stritzke et...
