Roles of T Cells in Immunotherapy, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Biomedicines (ISSN 2227-9059). This special issue belongs to the section "Immunology and Immunotherapy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2025) | Viewed by 1142

Special Issue Editors

College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: AI-driven drug discovery; pharmaceutical biotechnology; pharmacogenomics; neoantigens; computational biology
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Guest Editor
Zhejiang University Innovation Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine, Hangzhou 310018, China
Interests: tumor immunotherapies; T-cell receptors; T-cell engagers; antibody–drug conjugates; neoantigens
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Tumor immunotherapies have achieved important success, but they still have some problems, such as low effective rates and unclear effectiveness. As important effector cells of human immunity, T cells are directly or indirectly involved in tumor immunotherapies. Therefore, an in-depth analysis of the roles of T cells in different immunotherapies is an effective way to improve their clinical efficacy. In this Special Issue, we welcome the submission of original research papers and reviews on the roles of T cells in immunotherapy. Relevant topics of interest to this Special Issue include (but are not limited to):

  • Recognition of T-cell epitopes or tumor neoantigens;
  • Design of tumor vaccines;
  • T-cell antigen recognition;
  • Design of TCR-based immunotherapies;
  • Regulation of T-cell activities.

Dr. Zhan Zhou
Dr. Wenbin Zhao
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • T-cell
  • immunotherapy
  • TCR

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

27 pages, 1100 KiB  
Review
CD8+ T Cell Subsets as Biomarkers for Predicting Checkpoint Therapy Outcomes in Cancer Immunotherapy
by Rosaely Casalegno Garduño, Alf Spitschak, Tim Pannek and Brigitte M. Pützer
Biomedicines 2025, 13(4), 930; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines13040930 - 9 Apr 2025
Viewed by 726
Abstract
The advent of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has transformed cancer immunotherapy, enabling remarkable long-term outcomes and improved survival, particularly with ICB combination treatments. However, clinical benefits remain confined to a subset of patients, and life-threatening immune-related adverse effects pose a significant challenge. This [...] Read more.
The advent of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has transformed cancer immunotherapy, enabling remarkable long-term outcomes and improved survival, particularly with ICB combination treatments. However, clinical benefits remain confined to a subset of patients, and life-threatening immune-related adverse effects pose a significant challenge. This limited efficacy is attributed to cancer heterogeneity, which is mediated by ligand–receptor interactions, exosomes, secreted factors, and key transcription factors. Oncogenic regulators like E2F1 and MYC drive metastatic tumor environments and intertwine with immunoregulatory pathways, impairing T cell function and reducing immunotherapy effectiveness. To address these challenges, FDA-approved biomarkers, such as tumor mutational burden (TMB) and programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression, help to identify patients most likely to benefit from ICB. Yet, current biomarkers have limitations, making treatment decisions difficult. Recently, T cells—the primary target of ICB—have emerged as promising biomarkers. This review explores the relationship between cancer drivers and immune response, and emphasizes the role of CD8+ T cells in predicting and monitoring ICB efficacy. Tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells correlate with positive clinical outcomes in many cancers, yet obtaining tumor tissue remains complex, limiting its practical use. Conversely, circulating T cell subsets are more accessible and have shown promise as predictive biomarkers. Specifically, memory and progenitor exhausted T cells are associated with favorable immunotherapy responses, while terminally exhausted T cells negatively correlate with ICB efficacy. Ultimately, combining biomarkers enhances predictive accuracy, as demonstrated by integrating TMB/PD-L1 expression with CD8+ T cell frequency. Computational models incorporating cancer and immune signatures could further refine patient stratification, advancing personalized immunotherapy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Roles of T Cells in Immunotherapy, 2nd Edition)
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