In the Spotlight...

Hypoimmune CD19 CAR T cells evade allorejection in patients with cancer and autoimmune disease

14 patients with B cell cancers and 1 with autoimmune disease were treated with allogeneic anti-CD19 CAR T cells edited for immune evasion (TRAC/B2M/CIITA KD + CD47 overexpression), following lymphode...

Overcoming ovarian cancer resistance and evasion to CAR-T cell therapy by harnessing allogeneic CAR-NKT cells

Li et al. identified broad expression of NKR ligands on ovarian tumor cells, motivating the application of allogeneic, IL-15+ CAR NKT cells, which were effective in CAR antigen+/- xenograft models, an...

Succinate preserves CD8+ T cell fitness to augment antitumor immunity

Ma et al. demonstrated that succinate promoted CD8+ T cell mitochondrial fitness and enhanced antitumor immunity. Succinate accumulation in tumors enhanced tumor-reactive CD8+ T cell-mediated immune r...

EML4-ALK rearrangement creates a distinctive myeloid cell-dominant immunosuppressive microenvironment in lung cancer

Arai et al. demonstrated that the EML4-ALK fusion gene created a myeloid cell-driven immunosuppressive TME. Fusion+ lung adenocarcinomas showed decreases in CXCL9, CXCL10, and CXCL11 T cell chemoattra...

Previous Digests

Lymph node T cells lead the antitumor charge, while tumor-resident T cells fall short

August 13, 2025

While CD8+ T cells with various stemness, tissue residency, and exhaustion features have been implicated in antitumor responses and ICB efficacy, the exact contribution of each subset remains poorly understood. Wijesinghe, Rausch, et al. used multiple genetic murine models...

Novel binder designs mimic TCR specificity for pMCH-I

August 6, 2025

T cell receptors (TCRs) are highly specific for peptide–MHC (pMHC) complexes, allowing for recognition of specific intracellular antigens, and making them extremely useful in targeting specific target cells. However, TCRs that target specific pMHCs are often difficult to identify...

New nanobody bispecific antibody–drug conjugates induced enhanced ICB activity

July 30, 2025

Various approaches have been taken or are underway to improve responses to CTLA-4- or PD-1/PD-L1-directed immune checkpoint blockade (ICB). Making use of nanobodies specific these checkpoints, a nanobody recognizing the murine Ig kappa constant chain (targeting the endogenous antibody...

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ACIR's mission is to fast-track cancer immunotherapy research by helping researchers stay on top of the new literature in this fast-moving and multifaceted field, fostering their creativity and productivity in bringing us ever closer to curing this deadly disease.

Ed Fritsch

Ed Fritsch

Ute Burkhardt

Ute Burkhardt

Lauren Hitchings

Lauren Hitchings

Gaelle Llambi

Gaelle Llambi

Maartje Wouters

Maartje Wouters

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Alex Najibi

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Katherine J. Turner

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Stan Wolf

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Paula Hochman

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