Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

CANCER IMMUNOLOGY

Deciphering immunoregulatory vulnerabilities in human cancers

Nature Immunology volume 23, pages 995–996 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Regulatory T cells that express high levels of IL-1R and ICOS display transcriptional features of antigen specificity, are highly suppressive and distinguish tumors from non-malignant inflamed tissues

In the past decade, immunotherapy has revolutionized oncological treatments through the development of monoclonal antibodies designed to block inhibitory signaling pathways that normally restrict anti-tumor T cell immunity. These regulatory pathways are also known as immune checkpoints and their blocking antibodies as checkpoint inhibitors. Although checkpoint inhibitors can re-ignite T cell activity in tumors, they can also promote re-activation of T cells that infiltrate inflamed non-malignant tissues, promoting on-target, off-tumor adverse side effects in a notable proportion of patients and occasionally leading to patient death1. In addition, adverse events result in immediate cessation of treatment, which can, in many cases, lead to tumor relapse. Hence, the identification of molecular pathways that are specifically active in tumors but absent in non-malignant inflammatory sites could hold the key to the development of improved immunotherapies with maximal anti-tumor activity and minimal toxicity.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Fig. 1: A translational pipeline for the identification of immunoregulatory targets in tumor samples and matched non-malignant inflamed tissues.

References

  1. Martins, F. et al. Nat. Rev. Clin. Oncol. 16, 563–580 (2019).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Mair, F. et al. Nature 605, 728–735 (2022).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Greene, E. et al. Patterns (N Y) 2, 100372 (2021).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Browaeys, R., Saelens, W. & Saeys, Y. Nat. Methods 17, 159–162 (2020).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ahmadzadeh, M. et al. Sci. Immunol. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciimmunol.aao4310 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Jain, A., Song, R., Wakeland, E. K. & Pasare, C. Nat. Commun. 9, 3185 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Fu, T., He, Q. & Sharma, P. Cancer Res. 71, 5445–5454 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Simpson, T. R. et al. J. Exp. Med. 210, 1695–1710 (2013).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Solomon, I. et al. Nat. Can. 1, 1153–1166 (2020).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Kidani, Y. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 119, e2114282119 (2022).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cancer Immunology Unit, Research Department of Haematology, University College London Cancer Institute, London, UK

    Felipe Gálvez-Cancino & Sergio A. Quezada

  2. Centro Cientifico y Tecnologico de Excelencia Ciencia & Vida, Fundacion Ciencia & Vida, Santiago, Chile

    Alvaro Lladser

  3. Facultad de Medicina y Ciencia, Universidad San Sebastián, Santiago, Chile

    Alvaro Lladser

Authors
  1. Felipe Gálvez-Cancino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alvaro Lladser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sergio A. Quezada
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Alvaro Lladser or Sergio A. Quezada.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Gálvez-Cancino, F., Lladser, A. & Quezada, S.A. Deciphering immunoregulatory vulnerabilities in human cancers. Nat Immunol 23, 995–996 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-022-01251-w

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-022-01251-w

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing