Go to the scene: TH9 cells superior migration ability to the lungs explains their exceptional anticancer efficacy

Antibodies against immune checkpoints are now routinely administered as a first line of treatment against metastatic lung cancer. Resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors is, however, frequent, underscoring the need to find alternative treatments. Adoptive T-cell therapy has recently proven effect...

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Main Authors: Lionel Apetoh, Jiazhi Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMJ Publishing Group 2025-04-01
Series:Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
Online Access:https://jitc.bmj.com/content/13/4/e011522.full
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author Lionel Apetoh
Jiazhi Xu
author_facet Lionel Apetoh
Jiazhi Xu
author_sort Lionel Apetoh
collection DOAJ
description Antibodies against immune checkpoints are now routinely administered as a first line of treatment against metastatic lung cancer. Resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors is, however, frequent, underscoring the need to find alternative treatments. Adoptive T-cell therapy has recently proven effective in treating patient’s refractory to immune checkpoint inhibitors. This provides impetus to characterize the T-cell subsets best able to tackle tumors. The anticancer activities of IL-9-producing CD4 T helper cells (TH9 cells) were identified in melanoma in 2012. TH9 cells feature strong antimelanoma effects thanks to their production of interleukin (IL)-9 and the activation of innate and adaptive immune effectors. The ability of TH9 cells to prevent the growth of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and osteosarcoma (OS), which commonly metastasize to the lungs, is elusive. In this commentary, we discuss the findings of Chen et al reported in the JITC demonstrating that TH9 cells are lung-tropic and eliminate TNBC and OS cells developing in the lungs. We also highlight how these investigations are in line with recent studies indicating that the adoptive transfer of IL-9-producing T cells eliminate aggressive cancers, including hematological tumors like leukemia and solid tumors such as glioblastoma. Altogether, these findings over the past 13 years support the clinical evaluation of TH9 cells in the adoptive therapy of cancer.
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spelling doaj-art-67eab03e48974bf8b775f766cc09acfb2025-08-20T02:16:03ZengBMJ Publishing GroupJournal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer2051-14262025-04-0113410.1136/jitc-2025-011522Go to the scene: TH9 cells superior migration ability to the lungs explains their exceptional anticancer efficacyLionel Apetoh0Jiazhi Xu1INSERM, U1231, Dijon, FranceMicrobiology and Immunology, Indiana University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, USAAntibodies against immune checkpoints are now routinely administered as a first line of treatment against metastatic lung cancer. Resistance to immune checkpoint inhibitors is, however, frequent, underscoring the need to find alternative treatments. Adoptive T-cell therapy has recently proven effective in treating patient’s refractory to immune checkpoint inhibitors. This provides impetus to characterize the T-cell subsets best able to tackle tumors. The anticancer activities of IL-9-producing CD4 T helper cells (TH9 cells) were identified in melanoma in 2012. TH9 cells feature strong antimelanoma effects thanks to their production of interleukin (IL)-9 and the activation of innate and adaptive immune effectors. The ability of TH9 cells to prevent the growth of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and osteosarcoma (OS), which commonly metastasize to the lungs, is elusive. In this commentary, we discuss the findings of Chen et al reported in the JITC demonstrating that TH9 cells are lung-tropic and eliminate TNBC and OS cells developing in the lungs. We also highlight how these investigations are in line with recent studies indicating that the adoptive transfer of IL-9-producing T cells eliminate aggressive cancers, including hematological tumors like leukemia and solid tumors such as glioblastoma. Altogether, these findings over the past 13 years support the clinical evaluation of TH9 cells in the adoptive therapy of cancer.https://jitc.bmj.com/content/13/4/e011522.full
spellingShingle Lionel Apetoh
Jiazhi Xu
Go to the scene: TH9 cells superior migration ability to the lungs explains their exceptional anticancer efficacy
Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer
title Go to the scene: TH9 cells superior migration ability to the lungs explains their exceptional anticancer efficacy
title_full Go to the scene: TH9 cells superior migration ability to the lungs explains their exceptional anticancer efficacy
title_fullStr Go to the scene: TH9 cells superior migration ability to the lungs explains their exceptional anticancer efficacy
title_full_unstemmed Go to the scene: TH9 cells superior migration ability to the lungs explains their exceptional anticancer efficacy
title_short Go to the scene: TH9 cells superior migration ability to the lungs explains their exceptional anticancer efficacy
title_sort go to the scene th9 cells superior migration ability to the lungs explains their exceptional anticancer efficacy
url https://jitc.bmj.com/content/13/4/e011522.full
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AT jiazhixu gotothesceneth9cellssuperiormigrationabilitytothelungsexplainstheirexceptionalanticancerefficacy