Work

Immune checkpoint blockade activates macrophages and remodels the lymph node microenvironment in melanoma metastasis

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: The factors that drive therapeutic resistance and variable patient response to immune checkpoint blockade therapies within the metastatic lymph nodes are poorly understood. Activation of lymph node immune cells is associated with effective immune checkpoint blockade responses or alternately enforce immunosuppression. Here we investigate a murine model of lymph node melanoma metastasis that is amenable to combination immune checkpoint blockade at the cellular, protein, and transcriptional level. Checkpoint blockade spatially reorganizes and activates T and B lymphocytes as well as lymph node stromal cells. Notably, myeloid cells, key mediators of lymph node immune function, are reprogrammed to an immunostimulatory phenotype upon checkpoint blockade. Our findings in this murine lymph node metastasis system support a model in which immunostimulatory macrophages are induced and macrophage-mediated T cell suppression is released during effective immunotherapy.

Source: Communications Biology

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-026-11109-8

Authors: Ildefonso Silva-Junior, Fabio Carvalho de Souza, Tina Kwok, Christopher Splaine, Jessica Lancaster

Institutions: Mayo Clinic, Mayo Clinic in Arizona, Mayo Clinic Hospital

Language: English

Topic: Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers

Subfield: Oncology

Field: Medicine

Domain: Health Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $4,190