2026
August
Fun in the sun: how melanocytes avoid immune clearance, despite UV damage
August 19, 2026
Melanocytes in human skin are regularly exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) from the sun, and can accumulate substantial DNA damage without being eliminated by the immune system. In recent work published in Immunity, Lo et al. investigated how these cells evade immune elimination, and found that the transcriptional regulator microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF)...
Activated DCs go beyond priming to sustain tumoral T cell responses
August 12, 2026
A subset of cDCs within tumors expresses T cell-stimulating and immune-regulatory molecules. The exact role of these activated DCs (actDCs) in antitumor immunity remains largely unknown, and given their scarcity, they are a challenge to study. Koufaki et al. developed murine models to label and ablate CCR7+ DCs to study their role in...
Helpers don’t clock out: CD4s essential for both priming and effector phases of ICB
August 5, 2026
While CD4+ T cells are crucial for CD8+ T cell priming in ICB-induced antitumor responses, their helper role at the effector phase remains largely unknown. Ameh et al. used murine MHC-II- sarcoma models to study CD4+ T cell help during ICB treatment. Their results were recently published in Cancer Immunology Research. The researchers...
