• Special Issue Topic

    Interplay of γδ T cells and Tumor Cells

    Submission Deadline: December 31, 2021

    Guest Editors

    Dr. Dieter Kabelitz E-Mail

    Director emeritus, Senior Research Group Leader, Institute of Immunology UKSH Campus Kiel / CAU, Kiel, Germany

    Research Keywords: Functional plasticity of human γδ T cells, cell-based immunotherapy


    Dr. Zhinan Yin E-Mail

    The Biomedical Translational Research Institute, Faculty of Medical Science, Jinan University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P.R. China

    Research Keywords: γδ T cells, cancer, immunotherapy, neuroimmunology, immune regulation


    About the Special Issue

    In contrast to conventional aβ T cells, (most) γδ T cells are not MHC-restricted. γδ T cells recognize and kill malignant cells through the T-cell receptor and activating NK receptors like NKG2D which recognizes stress-inducible cell surface ligands. The human Vγ9Vδ2 γδ T-cell receptor recognizes small pyrophosphates in the context of butyrophilin molecules. Such pyrophosphates are overproduced by many transformed cells, which renders tumor cells susceptible to γδ T-cell killing. Due to their MHC-independence, γδ T cells can be applied in cellular immunotherapy also across HLA barriers. On the other hand, γδ T cells are also subject to inhibitory mechanisms of the tumor micromilieu.

    In this Special Issue, we will publish cutting edge papers dealing with various aspects of how γδ T cells interact with tumor cells, including translational perspectives for improving the clinical application of γδ T cells in immunotherapy. Both original contributions as well as focused reviews are welcome.

    Keywords: γδ T cells, tumor cells, NK receptors, tumor micromilieu, checkpoint inhibitors, butyrophilin, pyrophosphates, Vδ2 γδ T cells, Vδ1 γδ T cells

    Call for Papers

    Published Articles

    Open Access
    Protocol
    A multispectral immunohistochemistry panel to investigate γδ T cells and butyrophilin molecules in the tumour microenvironment
    Conventional immunohistochemistry methods though once fundamental for the individual staining of cell markers, have now been superseded by multispectral immunohistochemistry (mIHC). mIHC enables sim [...] Read more.
    Jessica Da Gama Duarte ... Andreas Behren
    Published: June 16, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:383–392
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00057
    View:2368
    Download:65
    Open Access
    Review
    Allogeneic gamma delta T cells as adoptive cellular therapy for hematologic malignancies
    Cancer immunotherapy, especially T-cell driven targeting, has significantly evolved and improved over the past decade, paving the way to treat previously refractory cancers. Hematologic malignancies [...] Read more.
    Navdeep Jhita, Sunil S. Raikar
    Published: June 07, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:334–350
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00054
    View:4834
    Download:136
    Open Access
    Review
    Obesity and cancer: the gammadelta T cell link
    Obesity has become a worldwide scourge, affecting more than 10% of adults worldwide. While widely recognized to be associated with increased incidence of medical conditions such as diabe [...] Read more.
    Ilan Bank
    Published: May 31, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:320–333
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00053
    View:1792
    Download:42
    Open Access
    Perspective
    Anti-cancer γδ T lymphocytes: contradictory past and promising future
    Recent anti-cancer strategies are based on the stimulation of anti-tumor immune reaction, exploiting distinct lymphocyte subsets. Among them, γδ T cells represent optimal anti-cancer candidates, especially in those tissues where [...] Read more.
    Alessandro Poggi, Maria Raffaella Zocchi
    Published: April 28, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:220–228
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00047
    View:1595
    Download:35
    Times Cited: 0
    Open Access
    Original Article
    Single-cell differentiation trajectories define early stages of a human cutaneous T-cell lymphoma
    Aim: The aim of this article is to characterize in detail the γδ T lymphocytes from an adult patient with primary cutaneous T-cell lymphoma of γδ s [...] Read more.
    Juan-Pablo Cerapio ... Jean-Jacques Fournie
    Published: April 15, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:185–199
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00044
    View:2305
    Download:37
    Open Access
    Review
    Augmenting human gamma delta lymphocytes for cancer therapy with chimeric antigen receptors
    Gamma delta lymphocytes (γδ T) sit at the interface between innate and adaptive immunity. They have the capacity to recognize cancer cells by interaction of their surface receptors with an array of cancer cell surface target ant [...] Read more.
    Gabrielle M. Ferry, John Anderson
    Published: March 17, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:168–179
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00042
    View:1796
    Download:59
    Open Access
    Review
    The role of γδ T cells in the context of allogeneic stem cell transplantation
    Allogeneic stem cell transplantation is currently the only curative approach for a variety of malignant and non-malignant diseases. In the early transplant era, the intent of this treatment was to a [...] Read more.
    Rupert Handgretinger ... Manon Queudeville
    Published: March 16, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:157–167
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00041
    View:1546
    Download:46
    Open Access
    Review
    Novel insights based on the plasticity of γδ T cells in the tumor microenvironment
    γδ T cells express unique T cell receptor (TCR) γ and TCR δ chains, with structural and functional heterogeneity. Taking advantage of the diverse γδ TCR repertoire or other ligand-receptor interactions, γδ T cells can reco [...] Read more.
    Yue Wang ... Wei He
    Published: February 24, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:98–132
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00039
    View:3950
    Download:101
    Open Access
    Review
    γδ T cell costimulatory ligands in antitumor immunity
    Antitumor immunity relies on the ability of T cells to recognize and kill tumor targets. γδ T cells are a specialized subset of T cells that predominantly localizes to non-ly [...] Read more.
    Joseph M. McGraw, Deborah A. Witherden
    Published: February 24, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:79–97
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00038
    View:3568
    Download:81
    Open Access
    Review
    Tumor-associated protein ligands recognized by human γδ T cell receptor and their implications in cancer therapy
    In recent years, immunologists have been working to utilize the functional mechanism of the immune system to research new tumor treatment methods and achieved a major breakthrough in 2013, which was [...] Read more.
    Chang Liu ... Wei He
    Published: February 22, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:64–78
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00037
    View:1838
    Download:46
    Times Cited: 0
    Open Access
    Review
    The microbiota is a potential mediator of the crosstalk between γδ T cells and tumors
    γδ T cells are one of the immune cell types that express antigen receptors. γδ T cells are able to recognize pathogens or cancer cells independently o [...] Read more.
    Huidi Wang ... Jia Yin
    Published: February 18, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:48–63
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00036
    View:1767
    Download:34
    Open Access
    Review
    γδT cells: alternative treasure in antitumor immunity
    In recent decades, abundant methods for targeted tumor cell immunotherapy have been developed. It was recently discovered that excellent curative effects observed in hematological tumors cannot be achieved in solid tumors, as seri [...] Read more.
    Xiangjin Zhang ... Wei He
    Published: February 17, 2022 Explor Immunol. 2022;2:32–47
    DOI: https://doi.org/10.37349/ei.2022.00035
    View:1757
    Download:39
    Times Cited: 0