title: Opening a niche for therapy: local lymphodepletion helps the immune system to fight melanoma.
abstract: In this issue, Fujiwara et al. report that local ablation of CD4+ T cells in a murine B16 melanoma model, together with concomitant activation of the immune system by OX40L, leads to complete rejection of the melanomas. Rejection was driven mainly by CD8+ T cells, which infiltrated the melanomas and secreted sizeable amounts of IFN-γ. However, CD8+ T-cell infiltration also caused the recruitment of immunosuppressive myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Although these cells did not prevent the rejection of the melanomas, in clinical settings the long-term repopulation of tumors by MDSCs may counteract successful treatment. Thus, local ablation of CD4+ leukocytes may improve anti-melanoma therapies in humans, but at the same time MDSC levels in the tumor cells have to be kept in check to ensure treatment success.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: karsten.mahnke@med.uni-heidelberg.de.
authors.forename: Karsten
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mahnke
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Skorokhod
authors.affiliation: University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Department of Dermatology, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grabbe
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Alexander H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Enk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000943:Antigens, Differentiation / Q000276:immunology*; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D008212:Lymphocyte Depletion / Q000379:methods*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000628:therapy*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D000911:Antibodies, Monoclonal; D000943:Antigens, Differentiation; C406562:OX40Ig