Controlling T cell senescence in the tumor microenvironment for tumor immunotherapy.

Understanding molecular mechanisms involved in creating and sustaining the tumor suppressive microenvironment is critical for the development of novel antitumor therapeutic strategies. We have identified the induction of T cell senescence as a novel mechanism utilized by human tumor cells to induce immune suppression, and provided a new strategy using TLR8 ligands to reverse tumor immunosuppressive effects for tumor immunotherapy.