Shomyseh Sanjabi

Abstract TGFβ signaling is associated with non-response to immune checkpoint blockade in patients with advanced cancers, particularly in the immune-excluded phenotype. While previous work demonstrates that converting tumors from excluded to inflamed phenotypes requires attenuation of PD-L1 and TGFβ signaling, the underlying cellular mechanisms remain unclear.

Parameters required for eliciting CD8-T-cell-mediated immunity in the tolerogenic environment of female reproductive tract (FRT) are not well understood. We established a mouse model of intravaginal infection with acute lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) and showed that, compared to systemic infection, CD8-T-cell-mediated protective immune response was delayed in the FRT. After i.vag.

How viral-specific immunity is generated in the colon is not well understood, leaving a major gap in our knowledge of defining the parameters needed to develop vaccines against rectally transmitted pathogens. Clearance of most intracellular pathogens requires CD8 T cells, and since unlike the small intestine, the colon lacks organized lymphoid aggregates such as Peyer’s patches, generating protective immunity requires a series of orchestrated events to mobilize CD8 T cells to this mucosal organ.