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Decoding the immune-tumor synapse for data-driven design of next-generation immunotherapies

Imke S C van Rossum1, Annemiek B van Spriel1, Guido van Mierlo1

  • 1Department of Medical BioSciences, Radboud Institute for Medical Innovation, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.

Trends in Immunology
|March 18, 2026
PubMed

The immunological synapse (IS) formed between cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes (CTLs) and tumor cells represents the critical interface where many immunotherapies act, including therapeutic antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor immunotherapy. However, detailed characterization of the CTL-tumor IS has remained limited, primarily due to the transient and dynamic nature of this structure. Recent advances in proteomics, transcriptomics, high-throughput imaging, and machine learning are now enabling more precise investigation of this complex cell-cell interaction. This review highlights how emerging technologies have advanced our understanding of the CTL-tumor IS, outlines their potential to inform next-generation immunotherapies, and proposes future directions for technological innovation.

Keywords:
cancercytotoxic CD8(+) T lymphocytesimmunological synapsemachine learningproteomicstranscriptomics

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