Dying T lymphocytes call for the death of tumor cells

摘要

Immunotherapy that specifically targets tumor cells is the preferred approach to induce tumor regression.Over the pastdecade,significant progress has been made in devising various methods to direct the immune system to respond to tumorcells.The major hurdle for successful immunotherapy is to overcome immune tolerance in the tumor microenvironment.Recent clinical trials with dendritic cell-based vaccination[1,2]and CTLA4 blocking antibodies[3]have shown greatpromise,though complete cancer regression is not always achieved[4].Currently,alternative strategies potentially leadingto cancer eradication or regression in animal or clinical models are being enthusiastically pursued.In this issue of CellResearch,Wang et al.report a novel way to induce tumor immunity by the use of irradiated autologous T cells[5].