This image depicts the immune response against multiple tumor lesions in the lung of a mouse. We use this mouse model of cancer to better understand how we can improve the immune response to tumors therapeutically. In this study, we found that a therapeutic vaccine targeting certain proteins in the cancer cells drove a strong immune response against the tumors. We observed greater numbers of killer T cells (marked by magenta and orange) inside the tumors (round circles) and these cells significantly shrank the tumors. These findings identify a new vaccine approach to treating cancer that could be trialed in human patients.

Markers: tumor (Nkx2.1, blue), CD8 T cells (magenta), Ki-67 (proliferation, orange), vasculature (α-SMA, white)