{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,28]],"date-time":"2026-10-28T19:48:51Z","timestamp":1793216931048,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":47,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,18]],"date-time":"2026-02-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1771372800000},"content-version":"unspecified","delay-in-days":17,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000054","name":"National Cancer Institute","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["1R21CA286198"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1R21CA286198"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000054","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"For a Better World Foundation","award":["FABW-001"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FABW-001"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["AI101423"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AI101423"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000002","name":"National Institutes of Health","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["AI139749"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["AI139749"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000002","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["bmj.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J Immunother Cancer"],"accepted":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,29]]},"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,2]]},"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Immunotherapy has had limited success in pancreatic cancer, largely due to a low mutational burden and immunosuppressive microenvironment. Here we hypothesized that systemic delivery of viral antigens can redirect pre-existing antiviral immunity against pancreatic tumors.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Cytomegalovirus (CMV, a \u03b2-herpesvirus) was chosen, as the majority of the population is infected and it induces an extremely large\/broad memory T-cell response. Mice latently infected with murine CMV (MCMV) were orthotopically implanted with pancreatic cancer cells and treated with systemic injections of MCMV T-cell epitopes. Tumor growth was monitored by ultrasound two times a week, and immune cell infiltration was analyzed by histology, flow cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Statistical analysis was performed by two-way analysis of variance with Sidak correction.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>MCMV peptide-epitope therapy (MCMVp) promoted preferential accumulation of MCMV-specific T cells within pancreatic tumors, delaying tumor growth and increasing survival. Immunophenotyping and scRNA-seq analyses showed these T cells were highly activated and cytotoxic, leading to increased tumor necrosis and caspase-3 activation. Depletion of CD4 and CD8 T cells abolished the impact of MCMVp therapy, indicating the antitumor response is T-cell dependent. Together, these results show that CMV-specific T cells can be repurposed to combat pancreatic cancer.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Our studies reveal that CMV-specific viral memory T cells can be re-directed to control a solid tumor normally refractory to immunotherapy via a simple, intravenous injection of T-cell peptide epitopes. This mutation-agnostic approach has significant potential for the development of \u201coff-the-shelf\u201d therapeutics by stimulating pre-existing antiviral memory, and it is widely applicable due to the high prevalence of CMV.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1136\/jitc-2025-012969","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,4]],"date-time":"2026-02-04T17:25:14Z","timestamp":1770225914000},"page":"e012969","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1136\/crossmarkpolicy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Redirecting cytomegalovirus immunity against pancreas cancer for immunotherapy"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Remi","family":"Marrocco","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Vaccine Innovation and Center for Autoimmunity and Inflammation, La Jolla Institute for Immunology, La Jolla, California, 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