Immunotherapy and Immune Responses

Dendritic cells are the immune system's primary messengers, capturing foreign or abnormal proteins and presenting fragments of them to T cells in a form that triggers a targeted response — a process called antigen presentation that sits at the heart of both natural immunity and designed therapies. Researchers studying this area work to understand how different subsets of dendritic cells decide whether to activate or suppress immune responses, and how tumors exploit those same decision points to avoid destruction. A central challenge is harnessing a phenomenon called cross-presentation, in which dendritic cells display tumor antigens to killer T cells in a way that could power more effective cancer immunotherapies. Alongside this, scientists are investigating how vaccine adjuvants — compounds that amplify immune signaling — can be tuned to tip dendritic cell behavior toward durable protective immunity rather than tolerance.

Works

135,892

Total citations

3,776,826

Keywords

Dendritic CellsImmunityCancer ImmunotherapyAntigen PresentationTumor AntigenVaccine Adjuvants