Molecular Insights into T Cell Exhaustion and Tumor Immune Evasion
A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Immunology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 13
Special Issue Editor
Interests: cancer genomics; precision medicine; data science in genomics; next-generation sequencing; translational oncology; tumor immunology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The interplay between T cell exhaustion and tumor immune evasion represents a critical barrier to effective anti-tumor immunity and cancer immunotherapy. T cell exhaustion is characterized by a progressive loss of effector function, sustained expression of inhibitory receptors and a distinct transcriptional and epigenetic landscape. This dysfunctional state, commonly observed in chronic infections and cancers, is exploited by tumor cells to evade immune surveillance. A deeper molecular understanding of the mechanisms driving T cell exhaustion, the tumor microenvironment’s suppressive cues and the signaling pathways governing immune evasion can unveil novel therapeutic targets and improve clinical outcomes.
This Special Issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences aims to present recent advances in the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying T cell exhaustion and tumor immune escape. We welcome studies that provide in-depth molecular insights—such as gene expression profiling, single-cell analysis, metabolic reprogramming, checkpoint signaling and epigenetic regulation—aligned with the scope of IJMS. Purely clinical or survey-based studies will not be considered unless they are supported by robust molecular data.
In this Special Issue, original research articles and comprehensive reviews are welcome. Research areas may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:
- Molecular mechanisms of T cell exhaustion in cancer
- Tumor-intrinsic pathways promoting immune evasion
- Immunometabolism and its role in T cell dysfunction
- Epigenetic regulation of exhausted T cell states
- Molecular interactions between T cells and the tumor microenvironment
- Checkpoint molecules and signaling cascades (e.g., PD-1, CTLA-4, LAG-3, TIM-3, TIGIT)
- Strategies to reverse exhaustion at the molecular level
- Single-cell transcriptomics and proteomics in exhausted T cells
- Molecular modeling and systems biology approaches to immune evasion
- Preclinical studies with molecular targets for immune reinvigoration
We look forward to receiving your valuable contributions.
Dr. Apostolos Zaravinos
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- T cell exhaustion
- immune evasion
- tumor microenvironment
- immune checkpoints
- immunometabolism
- epigenetics
- cancer immunology
- molecular immunotherapy
- single-cell analysis
- transcriptional regulation
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