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Sat, Aug 08, 2026, 13:31
The world’s first 3D image: how killer T cells precisely destroy cancer inside a tumor
2026/05/06, 10:58
Imagine this: a killer immune cell presses against a cancer cell, forms a tiny contact point, and releases its poison precisely at the target without harming neighboring cells. This is the immune synapse — a contact zone on which the success of immunotherapy depends.
Until now, scientists had only seen it in flat 2D images or with significant distortions. Now, a team from the University of Geneva has, for the first time, shown this process in true 3D, almost as it occurs in a living organism.
They used a method called cryo-expansion microscopy (cryo-ExM). Cells are rapidly frozen so that water turns into glass without forming crystals. Then the sample is physically expanded several times within a hydrogel. The result is a volumetric image with nanometer resolution and minimal distortion.
What did they see? At the contact site, the T-cell membrane forms a kind of “dome.” Inside the killer cell are cytotoxic granules with one or even several “cores” where toxic molecules are concentrated. The researchers observed how actin and microtubules are organized and how signaling molecules are arranged.
Most importantly, the method was applied not only to isolated cells but also to tissues from real human tumors (including glioblastoma). It is now possible to directly observe how T lymphocytes penetrate a tumor and function within it.
“For the first time, we have seen the molecular architecture of the immune synapse in a nearly natural state,” says first author Florent Lemaître. “This opens up a new understanding of why immunotherapy sometimes works and sometimes does not.”
Research leaders Virginie Hamel and Benita Wolf emphasize that such visualization will help improve CAR-T therapy and other forms of immuno-oncology. By knowing the exact structure, it becomes possible to fine-tune treatments more precisely and understand what prevents T cells from effectively killing cancer.
For now, this is a fundamental discovery — a new research tool rather than a ready-made therapy. However, the image quality and the ability to work with real human tumors make it highly promising.
Source: Florent Lemaître, Olivier Mercey et al. Unveiling the molecular architecture of T cells and immune synapses with cryo-expansion microscopy. Cell Reports 45(4): 117165 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117165
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