SITC 2021 | Tissue specificity in immune responses when using checkpoint blockade immunotherapy to treat tumors

Maria Zagorulya, BS, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Cambridge, MA, talks on the involvement of regulatory T-cells (Tregs) in suppressing the T-cell priming event specific to the pulmonary draining lymph nodes of lung tumors. Dr. Zagorulya describes a study comparing the immune response to injecting the same cancer cells in two different locations, the lung and subcutaneously, within a mouse as a preclinical model. It was observed that the suppression phenotype described is specific to the lung setting, suggesting different tissues elicit different immune responses. Dr. Brendan Hortons’ first observation was that lung tumors are unresponsive to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy whilst subcutaneous tumors are responsive. Due to a large number of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) T-cell infiltration being unresponsive to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy, Dr. Zagorulya is investigating why and how this occurs. This interview took place during the 36th Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C.