Circadian tumor infiltration and function of CD8+ T cells dictate immunotherapy efficacy

Reference PMID: 38723627

This episode explores groundbreaking research demonstrating that the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy is influenced by the time of day of administration, highlighting the critical role of circadian rhythms in shaping anti-tumor immune responses.

Key Findings:

• The number of tumor-infiltrating leukocytes (TILs) in melanoma tumors oscillates throughout the day, peaking in the evening in mouse models.
• This rhythmicity is driven by the circadian clock in endothelial cells lining the blood vessels in the tumor, which regulate the expression of the adhesion molecule ICAM-1.
• Both the quantity and the phenotype of TILs exhibit circadian oscillations, with a more anti-tumorigenic profile present in the evening.
• The expression of the immune checkpoint m ...