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Figure 8. Targeting TDLN to overcome therapy resistance. (A) Personalized vaccines targeting TDLN enhance the antigen recognition ability of T cells to prime and activate T cells; (B) IL-7 maintains Tpex stemness via STAT5/PI3K-AKT signaling, whereas engineered IL-2 drives Tpex expansion and activation. The engineered IL-2 and IL-7 promote the proliferation of Tpex cells to alleviate T cell exhaustion, and their combination with anti-PD-1 can enhance the efficacy of PD-1 blockade; (C) Potential application of TDLN–derived Tpex cells for adoptive cellular therapy. Created in BioRender. Wang, L. (2025) https://BioRender.com/owk0csp. TDLN: Tumor-draining lymph node; IL-7: interleukin-7; Tpex: progenitor exhausted T cells; STAT5: signal transducer and activator of transcription 5; PI3K: phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; AKT: protein kinase B; IL-2: interleukin-2; PD-1: programmed cell death protein 1; TCF-1: T cell factor-1; TIL: tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte.