Technology Meets TILs: Deciphering T Cell Function in the -Omics Era

Authors

William H Hudson
Andreas Wieland

Publication Date

1-9-2023

Journal

Cancer Cell

DOI

10.1016/j.ccell.2022.09.011

PMID

36206755

PMCID

PMC9839604

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

1-9-2024

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Author MSS

Published Open-Access

yes

Keywords

Humans, CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes, Neoplasms, Immunotherapy, Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating, Tumor Microenvironment, CD4, CD8, PD-1, T cell, bystander, cancer immunology, flow cytometry, immunotherapy, scRNA-seq, techniques, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes.

Abstract

T cells are at the centerstage of cancer immunology due to their ability to recognize mutations within tumor cells and directly mediate cancer cell killing. Immunotherapies to rejuvenate exhausted T cell responses have transformed the clinical management of several malignancies. In parallel, the development of novel multidimensional analysis platforms such as single-cell RNA-sequencing and high-dimensional flow cytometry has yielded unprecedented insights into immune cell biology. This convergence has revealed substantial heterogeneity of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, both within single tumors, across tumor types, and among cancer patients. Here, we discuss the opportunities and challenges of studying the complex tumor microenvironment with -omics technologies that generate vast amounts of data, highlighting the opportunities and limitations of these technologies with a particular focus on interpreting high-dimensional studies of CD8+ T cells in the tumor microenvironment.