Jaehyuk Choi: A tour-de-force cellular and transcriptional dissection of Merkel cell carcinoma

Jaehyuk Choi, Associate Professor at Northwestern University, shared a post on X about a recent paper by Zachary Reinstein et al. titled “Pre-existing skin-resident CD8 and γδ T cell circuits mediate immune response in Merkel cell carcinoma and predict immunotherapy efficacy” published in Cancer Discovery.

Authors: Zachary Reinstein, Yue Zhang, Oscar Ospina, Kenneth Tsai, Jaehyuk Choi et al.

“In a fun collaboration with Kenneth Tsai, Zachary Reinstein has led a tour-de-force cellular and transcriptional dissection of Merkel cell carcinoma with a focus on predictors of response to immune checkpoint blockade. Published today in Cancer Discovery.

To define clinically relevant modulators of immune checkpoint blockade, we turned to a cancer that has a near 50% response rate and public viral antigens! Supported by the V Foundation! Please read.

In a small subset of patients with low IFN signatures, gamma delta cells appear to be the drivers of tumor clearance. powered by a collaboration with Sergei Koralov, we were able to identify the gd TCRs, track clones, and follow differentiation trajectories.

Also supported by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Young Investigator Award. Thank you to these foundations for supporting our work.”

Source: Jaehyuk Choi/X