Advances in predicting T cell epitope recognition for cancer immunotherapy

T cell recognition of malignant cells is central to cancer immunotherapy. This process is elicited by interactions between T cell receptors (TCRs) and antigenic peptides displayed on major histocompatibility complex molecules. Sequencing technologies enable characterization of genomic, transcriptomic and epigenetic alterations that can give rise to epitopes in cancer cells, alongside TCR repertoire profiling in T cells. An important challenge is to determine which peptides are recognized by T cells and which TCRs mediate this recognition. This Perspective highlights how technological and computational advances have improved epitope predictions, shed light on TCR-epitope recognition and could help leverage TCR repertoires for therapeutic innovations in cancer immunotherapy.