npj Precision Oncology - Inflammation and limited adaptive immunity predict worse outcomes on immunotherapy in head and neck cancer

Neuronal proteasomal dysfunction is a hallmark of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. This study reveals that the interferon-induced immunoproteasome drastically decreases proteasomal ac...

Liver regeneration (LR) is essential for recovery from acute trauma, cancer surgery, or transplantation. Fazel Modares et al. find that mouse LR after injury requires ChAT+ B cells synthesizing acetylcholine (ACh) and Kupffer cells and hepatic CD8+ T cells expressing α7 nicotinic ACh receptor (Chrna7). ChAT+ B cells drive Kupffer cell IL-6 secretion and reduce CD8+ T cell IFNγ.

Liver regeneration is a remarkable and unique biological process, orchestrated by an intricate cellular crosstalk of (non-)parenchymal, immune, and nerve cells. In this issue of Immunity, Modares et al. uncover the pivotal role of choline acetyltransferase (ChAT+)-expressing B cells as key orchestrators of liver regeneration.

The phase 2 FOCUS trial evaluated the hTERT vaccine UV1 plus pembrolizumab in recurrent/metastatic PD-L1+ head and neck cancer patients. UV1 was safe, did induce T cell responses, but it did not improve efficacy over pembrolizumab alone, suggesting limited benefit in this setting.

We previously used a disease-specific B cell receptor (BCR) point mutation (IGLV3-21-R110) for selective targeting of a poor-risk subset of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with chimeric antigen rec...