Prof. Dennis Carson's group in UCSD with their collaborators has published a paper in JCI Insight titled "Combination immunotherapy with TLR agonists and checkpoint inhibitors suppresses head and neck cancer". The research demonstrates that Combination therapy with TLR7 agonists and anti-PD-1 antibody exhibits therapeutic efficacy on tumors in human papillomavirus-negative (HPV-negative) SCC7 and MOC1, and HPV-positive MEER syngeneic mouse models. T cell receptor repertoire analysis shows that TLR7 agonists and anti-PD-1 antibody increase the frequency of CD8+ T cell clonality and common TCR clones in primary and distant tumors and spleens, which is associated with suppression of tumor growth.
This study indicates that our immune repertoire analysis is a useful tool for immune-oncology research. JCI Insight is a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to biomedical research, ranging from preclinical to clinical studies.