Immunosurveillance

A newly developed genetically engineered mouse model enables the analysis of specific antigen presentation in vivo, providing insights into the tumour immunopeptidome and cancer progression.

Immune checkpoint blockade is a promising approach to treat lung cancer, however, immune related adverse events hold back success in some patients. Here authors show that regulatory B cells fail to limit self-reactive T cells in these patients, and B cell phenotyping prior treatment may identify those at risk for these unfavourable outcomes.

The success of peptide vaccine treatment in cancer relies on the build-up of an efficient cytotoxic T cell response against the tumour antigen. Authors show here that tumour-specific memory CD8 T cells are able to persist and possibly even proliferate in the peripheral blood of long-surviving hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

This Review explains how natural killer (NK) cells promote immunity to tumours. The authors cover the therapeutic approaches that are being developed to mobilize NK cells in patients with cancer, including NK cell activators, checkpoint blockade, cellular therapies, and bispecific and trispecific NK cell activating antibodies.