LJI welcomes new faculty member Miguel Reina-Campos, Ph.D.

Cancer researcher Miguel Reina-Campos, Ph.D., has joined the faculty of La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) as an Assistant Professor to lead the Laboratory of Tissue Immune Networks. His laboratory at LJI aims to investigate the basis of CD8+ T cell tissue immunity to improve life-saving cancer immunotherapies.

Improved Gene Editing Method Could Power the Next Generation of Cell and Gene Therapies

A new approach to the genetic engineering of cells promises significant improvements in speed, efficiency, and reduction in cellular toxicity compared to current methods. The approach could also power the development of advanced cell therapies for cancers and other diseases, according to a study from researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

How Gut Microbes Help Mend Damaged Muscles

Now, in a surprising new discovery, Harvard Medical School researchers have found that a class of regulatory T cells (Tregs) made in the gut play a role in repairing injured muscles and mending damaged livers.

In an even more unexpected twist, the researchers found that gut microbes fuel the production of Tregs, which act as immune healers that go on patrol around the body and respond to distress signals from distant sites of injury.

UCSF-Led Research Team Reveals Mechanisms at Work in Progression of Pancreatic Cysts to Cancer

A UC San Francisco-led team of international researchers has outlined the comprehensive immune landscape and microbiome of pancreatic cysts as they progress from benign cysts to pancreatic cancer. Their findings, publishing August 31 in Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, could reveal the mechanism of neoplastic progression and provide targets for immunotherapy to inhibit progression or treat invasive disease.

Mount Sinai Researchers Develop a Rapid Test to Measure Immunity to COVID-19

Mount Sinai researchers have developed a rapid blood assay that measures the magnitude and duration of someone’s immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. This test will allow large-scale monitoring of the population’s immunity and the effectiveness of current vaccines to help design revaccination strategies for vulnerable immunosuppressed individuals, according to a study published in Nature Biotechnology in June.

Patients with Multiple Sclerosis Show Robust T-Cell Responses to mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines

New research shows that Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients undergoing anti-CD20 (aCD20) treatment – which depletes the B cells that contribute to the MS attacks – are able to mount robust T-cell responses to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, despite having a muted antibody response to the vaccines.

Low on Antibodies, Blood Cancer Patients Can Fight off COVID-19 with T Cells

Antibodies aren’t the only immune cells needed to fight off COVID-19 — T cells are equally important and can step up to do the job when antibodies are depleted, suggests a new Penn Medicine study of blood cancer patients with COVID-19 published in Nature Medicine.

New immunotherapy target discovered for malignant brain tumors

Scientists say they have discovered a potential new target for immunotherapy of malignant brain tumors, which so far have resisted the ground-breaking cancer treatment based on harnessing the body’s immune system. The discovery, reported in the journal CELL, emerged from laboratory experiments and has no immediate implications for treating patients.

Key Pathway for Activated T-cells Might Be Targeted to Fight GVHD

The study demonstrates that T cell activation increases intracellular trafficking via the endoplasmic-reticulum-to-Golgi pathway, and that a protein known as SEC23B — a subunit of the COPII complex — regulates T cells’ production of these important secretory proteins after activation. The work points toward a new potential therapeutic target for decreasing the severity of graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD), a potentially fatal complication of bone marrow transplantation.

Drug-Induced Liver Injury, Translational microRNA Biomarkers, and More Featured in January 2021 Toxicological Sciences

in the January 2021 issue, Toxicological Sciences offers an engaging slate of research in toxicology, from endocrine toxicology and biomarkers to genetic and epigenetic toxicology and mixtures toxicology.

T Cell Therapy, Gut Microbiome, Tumorigenicity, and More Featured in September 2020 Toxicological Sciences

Toxicological Sciences features leading research in toxicology in the areas of biomarkers, environmental toxicology, and more in the September 2020 issue.

Deep Look at Immune Cells in Patients’ Tumors Reveals Insights on Timing for Treatment Combinations

It’s clear that radiation therapy, or radiotherapy, an approach used to treat cancer since the early 20th century, can be an effective companion to newer, immune-stimulating approaches known as immunotherapy. Research from a team from Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center explains how radiation helps boost the immune system’s ability to fight cancer in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors — and provides new evidence that the timing of these therapies can make a big difference in how effectively they work together.