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Updated: Dec 24, 2025
Predictive Immune Modeling of Solid Tumors
Published on: February 25, 2020
Single-Cell Approaches to Profile the Response to Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors
Lara Gibellini1, Sara De Biasi1, Camillo Porta2
1Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences for Children and Adults, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy.
Abstract:
Novel treatments based upon the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors have an impressive efficacy in different types of cancer. Unfortunately, most patients do not derive benefit or lasting responses, and the reasons for the lack of therapeutic success are not known. Over the past two decades, a pressing need to deeply profile either the tumor microenvironment or cells responsible for the immune response has led investigators to integrate data obtained from traditional approaches with those obtained with new, more sophisticated, single-cell technologies, including high parameter flow cytometry, single-cell sequencing and high resolution imaging. The introduction and use of these technologies had, and still have a prominent impact in the field of cancer immunotherapy, allowing delving deeper into the molecular and cellular crosstalk between cancer and immune system, and fostering the identification of predictive biomarkers of response. In this review, besides the molecular and cellular cancer-immune system interactions, we are discussing how cutting-edge single-cell approaches are helping to point out the heterogeneity of immune cells in the tumor microenvironment and in blood.
Insights
Immune checkpoint inhibitors show promise in cancer treatment, but many patients lack lasting responses. Advanced single-cell technologies are revealing immune cell heterogeneity in tumors to improve cancer immunotherapy effectiveness.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Oncology
- Biotechnology
Background:
- Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) offer novel cancer treatment strategies with significant efficacy.
- However, a substantial number of patients do not achieve durable responses to ICIs, with underlying reasons largely unknown.
- Understanding the tumor microenvironment and immune cell dynamics is crucial for enhancing ICI therapy.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the impact of advanced single-cell technologies on cancer immunotherapy research.
- To explore the molecular and cellular interactions between cancer and the immune system.
- To highlight how single-cell approaches reveal immune cell heterogeneity in the tumor microenvironment and blood.
Main Methods:
- Review of current literature on cancer immunotherapy and single-cell technologies.
- Integration of data from traditional methods with high-parameter flow cytometry, single-cell sequencing, and high-resolution imaging.
- Analysis of molecular and cellular crosstalk between cancer and immune cells.
Main Results:
- Single-cell technologies have profoundly impacted cancer immunotherapy by enabling deeper insights into cellular and molecular interactions.
- These advanced methods facilitate the identification of predictive biomarkers for ICI response.
- Cutting-edge single-cell approaches are crucial for understanding immune cell heterogeneity within the tumor microenvironment and peripheral blood.
Conclusions:
- Advanced single-cell technologies are indispensable tools for dissecting the complexities of cancer immunotherapy.
- Further application of these techniques will likely lead to improved therapeutic strategies and patient outcomes.
- Understanding immune cell heterogeneity is key to overcoming resistance to current immunotherapies.
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