CD4+ T Cells in Antitumor Immunity

Dear Colleagues,

Cancer immunotherapy is emerging as a revolutionary cancer treatment that engages the immune system to eliminate tumor cells. Given the central role of T cells in tumor eradication, multiple T cell-based therapies, such as immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) and adoptive T cell therapy (ACT), have been developed to treat cancer patients in clinics. While most immunotherapies focus on harnessing cytotoxic CD8⁺ T cells, mounting evidence indicates that CD4⁺ T cells are increasingly recognized as a critical cornerstone of effective antitumor immunity by orchestrating a broad spectrum of immune cells, including CD8⁺ T cells, natural killer (NK) cells, and macrophages. The major barriers to effective CD4⁺ T cell immunotherapy include tumor-induced tolerance featured by hypo-proliferation and an inability to produce effector cytokines, the immunologically “cold” tumor microenvironment (TME) devoid of immune infiltration, and loss of function (exhaustion) in the face of persistent antigenic stimulation. Therefore, there is an urgent demand for novel strategies that can overcome these barriers to potentiate CD4⁺ T cell immunotherapy. 

This Special Issue will include the mechanism of tumor-induced tolerance; in vitro generation of polyfunctional CD4⁺ T cells for the ACT; strategies to break immune tolerance; the extrinsic and intrinsic mechanisms underlying CD4⁺ T cell exhaustion; the synergistic antitumor effects of CD4⁺ T cells and other immune cells; remodeling of TME by CD4⁺ T cells; and the crosstalk between microbiota and CD4⁺ T cells. 

Dr. Zhi-Chun Ding
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cells is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• CD4+ T cells
• cancer immunotherapy
• adoptive cell therapy
• immune checkpoint blockade
• immune tolerance
• exhaustion
• tumor microenvironments