Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41201469›Full record

ArticleCancer immunology research2026

Intratumoral Three-Cell-Type Clusters Are a Conserved Feature of Endogenous Antitumor Immunity.

Sheela R Damle, Jason A Carter, Kristin E Goodsell, Jose M B Pineda, Lindsay K Dickerson, Xiuyun Jiang, Jacqueline L Mudd, Thomas Walsh, Heidi L Kenerson, Jack Cernak and 12 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cancer immunology research, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

22 authors.

Sheela R Damle *Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0001-6688-0950
Jason A Carter *Department of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0009-0002-7397-0502
Kristin E GoodsellDepartment of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0002-5967-7433
Jose M B PinedaMedical Scientist Training Program, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0003-1417-9200
Lindsay K DickersonDepartment of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0001-6509-8393
Xiuyun JiangDepartment of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0009-0007-1470-0760
Jacqueline L MuddDepartment of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.ORCID 0000-0001-7618-8765
Thomas WalshDepartment of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.ORCID 0009-0007-5435-2561
Heidi L KenersonDepartment of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0002-4497-4101
Jack CernakDepartment of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0009-0008-8191-7449
Sardar Shahmir B ChauhanDepartment of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0009-0009-7421-067X
Emily BeirneDepartment of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0009-0008-3325-082X
Sujata JanaExperimental Histopathology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0003-2718-0307
Amanda L KoehneExperimental Histopathology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0002-1397-6964
Kiran R VijDivision of Oncology, Department of Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.ORCID 0000-0003-3633-0565
Marianna B RuzinovaDepartment of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.ORCID 0000-0002-0833-8335
Raymond YeungDepartment of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0001-5090-3046
Shreeram AkileshDepartment of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0003-3152-7991
Eric A CollissonDepartment of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0001-8037-9388
Ryan C FieldsDepartment of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri.ORCID 0000-0001-6176-8943
I Nicholas CrispeDepartment of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0003-2375-5863
Venu G PillarisettyDepartment of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.ORCID 0000-0002-1162-9643

Funding

Translational Bioimaging Core Shared ResourceP30CA015704 · NCI · FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER · PI Eric Collisson · 1985 to 2026
$296.4M
Washington University SPORE in Pancreatic CancerP50CA272213 · NCI · WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY · PI David G DeNardo, WILLIAM G HAWKINS · 2023 to 2026
$10.7M
Translational Research Program in Cancer Differences across PopulationsP50CA285275 · NCI · FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER CENTER · PI AMANDA L KOEHNE · 2024 to 2026
$9.9M
Microfluidic Device to Profile Chemosensitivity in Glioma Slice CulturesR01CA181445 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI FOLCH, ALBERT · 2014 to 2025
$5.3M
Enhance UCSC Xena: extend interactive visualization to ultra-large-scale multi-omics data and integrate with analysis resourcesU24CA258407 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ · PI HAUSSLER, DAVID H, ZHU, JINGCHUN · 2021 to 2025
$3.8M
Translational Research Program in Colorectal Cancer DisparitiesP20CA252733 · NCI · FRED HUTCHINSON CANCER RESEARCH CENTER · PI LI, CHRISTOPHER I · 2020 to 2022
$3.4M
Optimizing Pancreatic Cancer Management with Next Generation Imaging and Liquid BiopsyR01CA256969 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI Eric Collisson, Ajit Harishkumar Goenka · 2021 to 2026
$3.1M
Enhance UCSC Xena Browser to Visualize Single Cell Cancer Moonshot dataR33CA263703 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ · PI ZHU, JINGCHUN · 2021 to 2021
$1.5M
Reproductive and Child Health StaRR ProgramR38AI181011 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · PI Kristina M. Adams Waldorf · 2025 to 2026
$805k
Cancer Research Institute (CRI) CRI Award 4093Fibrolamellar Cancer Foundation (FCF)M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust (MJMCT) SR-202221337National Cancer Institute (NCI) R01CA181445National Cancer Institute (NCI) R01CA256969National Cancer Institute (NCI) R33CA263703National Cancer Institute (NCI) U24CA258407NCI NIH HHS P20 CA252733NCI NIH HHS P30 CA015704NCI NIH HHS P50 CA272213NCI NIH HHS P50 CA285275NCI NIH HHS R01 CA181445NCI NIH HHS R01 CA256969NCI NIH HHS R33 CA263703NCI NIH HHS U24 CA258407NIAID NIH HHS R38 AI181011Swim Across America (SAA)U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) CA180067U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) CA230890
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Effective antitumor immunity ultimately depends on the priming and activation of tumor-specific cytotoxic CD8+ T cells; however, the role of intratumoral cell-cell immune interactions remains incompletely understood. Recent work has revealed that the temporospatial co-localization of dendritic cells (DC), T helper (Th) cells, and cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) within the tumor immune microenvironment following immune checkpoint blockade correlates with clinical response. In this study, we report the integration of more than 1 million spatially resolved single-cell profiles across six spatial proteomic and transcriptomic assays, which demonstrated that DC:Th:CTL three-cell-type clusters were common even in immunotherapy-naïve and highly desmoplastic tumors, such as fibrolamellar carcinoma and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. We found that these immune triads were enriched for functionally important type 1 conventional DC, mature DCs enriched in immunoregulatory molecules, CXCL13+ Th, and GZMK+ effector CTL phenotypes. Subsequent multiplex immunofluorescence imaging of more than 450 primary pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma tumors showed that the density of antigen-presenting cell:Th:CTL three-cell-type clusters was correlated with intratumoral T-cell clonal expansion and improved overall survival. These findings suggest that DC:Th:CTL triads are conserved across solid tumors and highlight the importance of intratumoral spatial niches in mediating endogenous antitumor immunity.

Indexed as

Carcinoma, Pancreatic DuctalDendritic CellsLymphocytes, Tumor-InfiltratingPancreatic NeoplasmsT-Lymphocytes, CytotoxicT-Lymphocytes, Helper-InducerHumansTumor Microenvironment

Identifiers

PMID41201469
PMCPMC12707859

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.