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For instance, anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy has demonstrated clinical efficacy in many tumor types, but overall, only a minority of patients respond. Near-infrared photoimmunotherapy (NIR-PIT) is a novel cancer treatment that selectively destroys targeted cells. CD25-targeted NIR-PIT is a strategy that selectively depletes regulatory T cells in the tumor microenvironment, thereby enhancing the T-cell response of PD-1 mAbs. Cytokines, such as interleukin-15 (IL-15), can also modulate immune response by further activating CD8\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    T cells, thereby creating favorable CD8\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    \/Treg ratio.\n                  <\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>\n                    In this study, we evaluated the combination of CD25-targeted NIR-PIT and intratumoral IL-15 administration with anti-PD-1 mAb in treating syngeneic murine tumor models. The combination of CD25-targeted NIR-PIT and intratumoral IL-15 with anti-PD-1 mAb suppressed tumor growth, prolonged survival and increased the CD8\n                    <jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\n                    \/Treg ratio. This combination achieved dramatic tumor control with 90% complete response and long-term survival, particularly in highly-immunogenic tumors. In addition, mice that achieved complete response resisted tumor re-inoculation suggesting durable memory T-cells were formed. In conclusion, the combination of CD25-targeted NIR-PIT and intratumoral IL-15 with anti-PD-1 therapy is a potentially useful strategy to improve the efficacy of immunotherapy.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00262-025-04186-x","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,18]],"date-time":"2025-12-18T12:17:20Z","timestamp":1766060240000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Combined CD25-targeted near infrared photoimmunotherapy (NIR-PIT) and intratumor IL-15 enhance the effectiveness of anti-PD-1 immunotherapy"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"75","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-7659-1238","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Makoto","family":"Kano","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Aki","family":"Furusawa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hiroshi","family":"Fukushima","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Seiichiro","family":"Takao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Shuhei","family":"Okuyama","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Hiroshi","family":"Yamamoto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Motofumi","family":"Suzuki","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Miyu","family":"Kano","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ko","family":"Kitamura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter L.","family":"Choyke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1019-4112","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Hisataka","family":"Kobayashi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,18]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"4186_CR1","first-page":"455","volume":"7","author":"M Jia","year":"2015","unstructured":"Jia M, Feng W, Kang S, Zhang Y, Shen J, He J et al (2015) Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 antibody in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC): a meta-analysis. 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