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Updated: Nov 16, 2025

Analysis of Human T Cell Activity in an Allogeneic Co-Culture Setting of Pre-Treated Tumor Cells
Published on: March 7, 2025
Impact of cancer evolution on immune surveillance and checkpoint inhibitor response
Yin Wu1, Dhruva Biswas2, Charles Swanton3
1Cancer Evolution and Genome Instability Laboratory, The Francis Crick Institute, London, NW1 1AT, UK; Cancer Research UK Lung Cancer Centre of Excellence, University College London Cancer Institute, Paul O'Gorman Building, London, WC1E 6DD, UK; Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, School of Immunology & Microbial Sciences, King's College London, London, SE1 9RT, UK.
Abstract:
Intratumour heterogeneity (ITH) is pervasive across all cancers studied and may provide the evolving tumour multiple routes to escape immune surveillance. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (CPIs) are rapidly becoming standard of care for many cancers. Here, we discuss recent work investigating the influence of ITH on patient response to immune checkpoint inhibitor (CPI) therapy. At its simplest, ITH may confound the diagnostic accuracy of predictive biomarkers used to stratify patients for CPI therapy. Furthermore, ITH is fuelled by mechanisms of genetic instability that can both engage immune surveillance and drive immune evasion. A greater appreciation of the interplay between ITH and the immune system may hold the key to increasing the proportion of patients experiencing durable responses from CPI therapy.
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