Aya Ludin
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ayaludin.bsky.social
Aya Ludin
@ayaludin.bsky.social
Post doc fellow, Zon lab, Harvard. PhD, Weizmann Institute, Israel. A firm believer that the zebrafish natural habitat is under a very good microscope.
Conclusions: We get a glimpse into the tumor black box. We see what an efficient anti-tumor immune response looks like. Which means we may: 1. Be able to tell if a treatment works or not, if we measure them. 2. Make treatments more efficient, if we find how to expand CRATERs.
October 18, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Yes. Not only do they exist in great similarity to the zebrafish, CRATERs multiply during successful immunotherapy- when the patient presented clinical benefit post treatment. But there are extremely few CRATERs when treatment failed, even if the T cells entered the tumor.
October 18, 2025 at 5:46 PM
It is in the CRATERs that we find multiple, lasting interactions of CD8+ T cells and melanoma, cell death, IFN-γ production. A battlefield. Indicating that the CRATERs are a major site for tumor killing following immunotherapy. Now the big question is- in human melanoma too?
October 18, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Without treatment, CD8+ T cells don't harm tumors too much. But immunotherapy is aimed at activating CD8+ T cells against tumors. When we give immunotherapy these pockets–CRATERs; Cancer Regions of Antigen presentation and T cell engagement and Retention- come alive.
October 18, 2025 at 5:46 PM
This behavior is characteristic of antigen recognition. Indeed, those pockets are rich with antigen presenting molecules, needed for the observed T cell retention. Simply put, the melanoma in those pockets shines bright to the T cells. And it has consequences during therapy.
October 18, 2025 at 5:46 PM
And we found that infiltrating CD8+ T cells don’t just randomly distribute across the tumor. They go into pockets. But they are not stuck there (as we would have thought if it wasn’t a movie). They stay there for many hours interacting with melanoma cells and then move on. How come?
October 18, 2025 at 5:46 PM
That’s a bit ambitious- how to see what is going on within the tumor? You could cut it and stain it, but even with the most sophisticated methods, you will lose a lot of information on tumor architecture and cellular dynamics.
Well, the zebrafish gave us a little advantage here.
October 18, 2025 at 5:46 PM
🚨Publication alert: Where does immunotherapy happen? What can the fish teach us about human pathology? And a dendritic cell is having a friend for dinner. Cancer immunology goes live, now in @cp-cell.bsky.social.
Here is a concise summary of a pretty big study 🧵. Let’s go (appetizer👇)
October 18, 2025 at 5:46 PM