Discovery and Translation of Cancer Immunology: A Special Issue

Cancer immunology relates to the ability of the immune system to protect a host against tumorigenesis. Understanding how both the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system contribute to immune surveillance and defense has led to the development of several clinically successful anti-cancer therapeutics.

To highlight recent advances in the mechanistic understanding of the immune response to cancer cells and new discoveries that relate to therapeutic interventions, eLife is pleased to present a Special Issue devoted to this exciting topic. This issue presents a collection of highly influential research selected for publication by a specially convened group of experts.

We continue to welcome high-quality research on this topic on an ongoing basis.

Visit our main subject page to explore articles in the wider fields of Cancer Biology and Immunology and Inflammation and sign up to receive the latest research.

Collection

1. 1. Cancer Biology

   Cancer-associated fibroblasts and their influence on tumor immunity and immunotherapy

   Richard Lee Barrett, Ellen Puré

   Long under-appreciated, fibroblast biology is a key aspect of understanding how the immune system responds to tumors and may hold the key to improving immunotherapy in this tricky space.
2. 1. Cancer Biology
   2. Physics of Living Systems

   Dissecting the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments in Glioblastoma-on-a-Chip for optimized PD-1 immunotherapy

   Xin Cui, Chao Ma ... Weiqiang Chen

   A biomimetic and patient-specific Glioblastoma-on-a-Chip microphysiological system provides an avenue for personalized screening of PD-1 immunotherapy and novel combinational therapies that maximize therapeutic outcomes in Glioblastoma patients.
3. 1. Cancer Biology
   2. Immunology and Inflammation

   A perspective on HPK1 as a novel immuno-oncology drug target

   Sansana Sawasdikosol, Steven Burakoff

   HPK1 is an important immuno-oncology drug target that may induce superior anti-tumor immunity through the multiple roles HPK1 may play at multiple steps of the cancer immunity cycle.
4. 1. Cancer Biology
   2. Immunology and Inflammation

   Cancer systems immunology

   Nathan E Reticker-Flynn, Edgar G Engleman

   Cancer systems immunology is a highly interdisciplinary field that is advancing our ability to understand and predict the complex behavior that orchestrates the interplay between tumors and the immune system.
5. 1. Cancer Biology

   MYC and Twist1 cooperate to drive metastasis by eliciting crosstalk between cancer and innate immunity

   Renumathy Dhanasekaran, Virginie Baylot ... Dean W Felsher

   MYC and Twist1 drive metastasis by a novel non-cell-autonomous transcriptional mechanism of eliciting a cytokinome that mediates the crosstalk between cancer cells and macrophages, and its therapeutic blockade inhibits metastasis.
6. 1. Cancer Biology
   2. Immunology and Inflammation

   Inflammation-induced IgE promotes epithelial hyperplasia and tumour growth

   Mark David Hayes, Sophie Ward ... Jessica Strid

   Natural IgE supports epithelial cell growth and differentiation in healthy skin, but during chronic tissue inflammation, IgE drives tumour outgrowth of epithelial cells harbouring oncogenic mutations.
7. 1. Cancer Biology

   T-cell co-stimulation in combination with targeting FAK drives enhanced anti-tumor immunity

   Marta Canel, David Taggart ... Alan Serrels

   Cancer cell expression of the T-cell co-stimulatory molecule CD80, or treatment with agonistic antibodies targeting the T-cell co-stimulatory receptors OX-40 or 4-1BB, enhances the anti-tumor activity of FAK inhibition.
8. 1. Cancer Biology
   2. Immunology and Inflammation

   Preclinical murine tumor models: A structural and functional perspective

   Marion V Guerin, Veronica Finisguerra ... Alain Trautmann

   Dissecting structural, cellular and molecular differences between transplanted and spontaneous mouse tumor models, highlighting their relevance for predicting the efficacy of anti-cancer treatments in patients.
9. 1. Cancer Biology

   Understanding the glioblastoma immune microenvironment as basis for the development of new immunotherapeutic strategies

   Ana Rita Pombo Antunes, Isabelle Scheyltjens ... Jo A Van Ginderachter

   The heterogeneity of immune cell types in glioblastoma tumors depends on the tumor's genetic make-up and treatment status and is an incompletely mined source of novel therapeutic targets.
10. 1. Immunology and Inflammation

    Tumors attenuating the mitochondrial activity in T cells escape from PD-1 blockade therapy

    Alok Kumar, Kenji Chamoto ... Tasuku Honjo

    Downregulation of mitochondrial activity by immunosuppressive tumor-derived soluble factors leads to systemic unresponsiveness to the PD-1 blockade therapy.
11. 1. Cancer Biology
    2. Immunology and Inflammation

    SLAMF6​ deficiency augments tumor killing and skews toward an effector phenotype revealing it as a novel T cell checkpoint

    Emma Hajaj, Galit Eisenberg ... Michal Lotem

    SLAMF6 is an inhibitory checkpoint of T cells, the lack of which leads to better tumor control, suggesting a new immunotherapy target.
12. 1. Cancer Biology

    GPC1 specific CAR-T cells eradicate established solid tumor without adverse effects and synergize with anti-PD-1 Ab

    Daiki Kato, Tomonori Yaguchi ... Yutaka Kawakami

    The safety and strong antitumor effects of GPC1-specific CAR-T cells against GPC1-expressing solid tumors were demonstrated by using both syngeneic and xenogeneic mouse models.
13. 1. Immunology and Inflammation

    Landscape mapping of shared antigenic epitopes and their cognate TCRs of tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes in melanoma

    Kenji Murata, Munehide Nakatsugawa ... Naoto Hirano

    A library of the paired peptide/HLA multimers and artificial APCs allows for construction of a large database of class I-restricted peptides and cognate tumor-reactive TCR genes at an unprecedented scale.
14. 1. Cancer Biology
    2. Immunology and Inflammation

    The tumor microenvironment as a metabolic barrier to effector T cells and immunotherapy

    Aaron R Lim, W Kimryn Rathmell, Jeffrey C Rathmell

    Diverse components of the tumor microenvironment affect T cell metabolism in ways that are crucial to improving immunotherapy.