Sean C. Bendall

Abstract Despite being heavily infiltrated by immune cells, tuberculosis (TB) granulomas often subvert the host response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection and support bacterial persistence. Human TB granulomas are enriched for immunosuppressive factors typically associated with tumor-immune evasion, raising the possibility that they promote tolerance to infection.

Abstract Recent advances in spatial biology can reveal how tissue organization changes in disease; however, interpreting these datasets in a generalized, scalable way remains challenging. Existing computational approaches rely on pairwise comparisons or unsupervised clustering, which can lack statistical rigor and miss rare, clinically relevant cellular niches.

Abstract Immune checkpoint inhibition (ICI) benefits only a subset of patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer and determinants of response remain unclear. We assembled a longitudinal cohort of 103 female patients from the phase 2 TONIC trial, with samples spanning primary tumors, pretreatment metastases and on-treatment metastases during nivolumab therapy.