Provided herein are methods for delaying or inhibiting T cell maturation or differentiation in vitro for a T cell therapy, comprising contacting one or more T cells from a subject in need of a T cell therapy with an AKT inhibitor and at least one of exogenous Interleukin-7 (IL-7) and exogenous Interleukin-15 (IL-15), wherein the resulting T cells exhibit delayed maturation or differentiation. In some embodiments, the method further comprises administering the one or more T cells to a subject in need of a T cell therapy.

The present disclosure provides methods comprising administering to the individual an effective amount of an agent that decreases or inhibits TIGIT expression and/or activity and an anti-cancer agent and/or an anti-cancer therapy. Further provided are kits comprising an anti-cancer agent, an agent that decreases or inhibits TIGIT expression and/or activity, or both, as well as instructions for use thereof.

Vector compositions comprising a myeloproliferative sarcoma virus enhancer, negative control region deleted, dl587rev primer-binding site substituted (MND) promoter operably linked to a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) are provided.

The invention provides compositions and methods for treating diseases associated with expression of a cancer associated antigen as described herein. The invention also relates to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) specific to a cancer associated antigen as described herein, vectors encoding the same, and recombinant T cells comprising the CARs of the present invention. The invention also includes methods of administering a genetically modified T cell expressing a CAR that comprises an antigen binding domain that binds to a cancer associated antigen as described herein.

Disclosed herein are -galactosylceramide (-GalCer) analogs and compositions thereof, methods of activating invariant Natural Killer T (iNKT) cells using said analogs, methods of treating diseases by activating iNKT cells using said analogs, and combination therapy of said analogs.

The present invention relates to cancer immunotherapy, in particular to sequence variants of tumor-related antigenic epitope sequences. Namely, the present invention provides a method for identification of microbiota sequence variants of tumor-related antigenic epitope sequences. Such microbiota sequence variants are useful for the preparation of anticancer medicaments, since they differ from self-antigens and, thus, they may elicit a strong immune response. Accordingly, medicaments comprising microbiota sequence variants, methods of preparing such medicaments and uses of such medicaments are provided.

The present inventors discovered that neural invasion is suppressed by inhibiting IL-6 in a model for neural invasion of pancreatic cancer, and completed the present invention. The present inventors also demonstrated that: an IL-6 receptor is expressed in cells of human pancreatic cancer cell lines; and IL-6 enhances the chemotactic and migratory activities and intracellular signaling of pancreatic cancer cells; and thus pancreatic cancer can be treated by inhibiting IL-6. Furthermore, the present inventors found that neural invasion of human pancreatic cancer can be suppressed, from the results of administering IL-6 inhibitors to neural invasion model mice.

The present disclosure provides a replication-competent, recombinant oncolytic vaccinia virus; and compositions comprising the replication-competent, recombinant oncolytic vaccinia virus. The present disclosure also provides use of the vaccinia virus or composition for inducing oncolysis in an individual having a tumor.

The present disclosure relates generally to methods treatment of hematological cancers, such as blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN), acute myeloid leukemia (AML), or Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS), comprising a combination of decitabine and a CD123-targeted therapy. In particular, the disclosed methods involve pretreatment of a patient with decitabine prior to administration of a CD123-targeted therapy.

Provided herein are methods for delaying or inhibiting T cell maturation or differentiation in vitro for a T cell therapy, comprising contacting one or more T cells from a subject in need of a T cell therapy with an AKT inhibitor and at least one of exogenous Interleukin-7 (IL-7) and exogenous Interleukin-15 (IL-15), wherein the resulting T cells exhibit delayed maturation or differentiation. In some embodiments, the method further comprises administering the one or more T cells to a subject in need of a T cell therapy.