Tumor immunotherapy - A lot to learn from Keratoacanthoma

Dysfunctionalinty and exhaustion of T cells in the tumor microenvironment is a harsh reality of anti-tumor immune response where tumor cells can escape it. A considerable effort is going on in the field of research that tries to harness the power of T cells against cancer cells to design new anti-cancer immunotherapeutic designs. All these efforts are getting a setback due to the fact that T cells become dysfunctional in tumors while expressing exhaustion markers, so it is necessary to understand from the perspective of cancer itself that what is lacking in tumor-specific T cells in tumor microenvironment so they are getting evaded. Keratoacanthoma is a compelling case of a tumor where auto-regression is happening and many molecular mechanisms can be attributed to this fact. One of the possibilities is having non-exhausting T cells and a highly conducive environment for anti-tumor immune response. In this hypothesis, I am proposing a detailed strategy to decipher this peculiar type of possible immune response in keratoacanthoma and how it can be idolized to create successful anti-cancer T cell immunotherapies.