cancer immunology

Gaining a better understanding of the dynamic and reciprocal interactions between cancer cells and the tumor microenvironment is essential for improving patient diagnosis and treatment.

The Scientist spoke with Jonathan Kagan about his idea that immune cells respond to “errors” made by unsuccessful pathogens, not the pathogens themselves.

Where and how human papillomavirus integrates itself into the human genome steers the infection’s clinical outcomes, finds a large, multifaceted study.

Nanoparticle-coated bacteria can capture tumor antigens and deliver them to immune cells, triggering a response that improved survival rates in mice.

Nanoparticle-coated bacteria carry cancer-derived proteins to dendritic cells, enabling the immune system to launch a response in a mouse model.

In vitro and mouse experiments show how cancer cells forced through tiny pores—mimicking the physical experience of metastasis—resisted programmed cell death and avoided detection by the immune cells that would normally kill them.

New research in mice reveals why natural killer cells, normally effective at hunting cancer, are sometimes stopped in their tracks.  

In chapter 8, “Dr. Shope’s Warty Rabbits,” author Michael P. Branch describes the scientist who unearthed the viral cause of strange growths on wild rabbits.

First, the genetically engineered cells became CD8⁺ killer T cells that wiped out his leukemia. Then they transformed into a stable population of CD4⁺ helper T cells that continue to circulate in his body.

When coated with positively charged particles, the bacteria shuttled antigens out of tumors and activated the immune system, a study finds.

This year revealed just how much scientists have learned about the disease, from how animals become naturally cancer-resistant to how tumor cells harness extracellular DNA to develop rapid drug resistance.

The binding of histamine with one of its receptors within the tumor environment makes cancer cells more resistant to immunotherapy, according to a new study. Blocking that binding could improve responses to treatment.

Targeted cancer therapy may jeopardize the effectiveness of subsequent immunotherapy by reducing dendritic cell numbers and activation, according to study of mice and patient samples.

Better understanding the CD8+ T cells already present in tumors could be key to making immunotherapies work for more patients.

A long way into the quest to vanquish cancer, our ears strain to hear the words, “Cancer is cured”—a yearning that can cloud our judgment.

The technology has wowed the field by all but obliterating some patients’ blood cancers, but solid malignancies present new challenges.

Following a spate of patient deaths in clinical trials testing modified T cells for the treatment of cancer, researchers work to reduce the treatment’s toxicity without sacrificing efficacy.