journal article·2026-06

Activating a B cell immune response regresses immunologically cold tumours

Heena Aggarwal, Nimish Gupta, Aniruddha Sengupta, Arindam Sarkar, Sanghamitra Mylavarapu, Ivan S. Pires, Tanmoy Saha, Binayak Sarkar, Ashish Kulkarni, Vinay S. Mahajan, Lipika Goyal, Aditya Bardia, Richard Fahrner, Ermanno Gherardi, Raghunath Mashelkar, Patrick Soon-Shiong, Hae Lin Jang, Shiladitya Sengupta

Nature Nanotechnology· Volume 21· Issue 6
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Abstract

Progress in immuno-oncology has been stymied by poorly immunogenic 'cold' tumours and the focus on T cells at the cost of other immune cells. Here we report that AT-1965, a small molecule in a lipid nanoparticle, induces rapid regression of poorly immunogenic tumours with the formation of immune memory through interaction with Cap-specific RNA (nucleoside-2'-O-)-methyltransferase 2 (CMTR2) in cancer cells, triggering an innate inflammatory viral defence response. AT-1965-treated tumours were found to be highly infiltrated with B cells, which are known to act as early responders to viral signatures. Genetic knockout of functional B cells abrogated the anti-tumour efficacy of AT-1965, directly implicating B cells in the anti-tumour outcome. Our results rationalize clinical data showing that patients with high CMTR2 expression in tumours have a poor prognosis and that B cell infiltration is associated with long-term survival in multiple tumour types. The AT-1965 nanomedicine-inspired discovery of CMTR2 as a potential cancer target and B cell recruitment opens a new frontier for immuno-oncology.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗

Research context

OpenAlex topics: interferon and immune responses · Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers · Immune cells in cancer

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

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