In a Cell paper published online in May, Ludwig Lausanne’s Johanna Joyce and her team reported a sweeping comparative analysis of the distinct immune landscapes of tumors that arise in the brain, or gliomas, and those that metastasize to the organ from the lungs, breast and skin. They surveyed the numbers and preferential locations of 14 different types of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment (TME) of 100 samples obtained from patients. They also profiled a spectrum of proteins, including cytokines and growth factors, in the samples and the global gene expression patterns of individual immune cells. These diverse analyses were then integrated to comprehensively map the immune landscape of each tumor type and capture key differences in the functional states of their resident and recruited immune cells. Their study identified the types of immune cells that predominantly sculpt the brain TME and showed that the composition of the immune landscapes and the functional states of their constituent cells are shaped by the interplay of the brain’s unique biology and the innate characteristics of each type of tumor. These richly detailed findings are likely to be an invaluable resource for the development of highly personalized immunotherapies at Ludwig Lausanne and beyond.
This article appeared in the August 2020 issue of Ludwig Link. Click here to download a PDF (2 MB).