Maffia Lab contributes to study of immune and vascular effects of cancer treatments
Published: 5 October 2026
Sii researchers have contributed to a multidisciplinary study published in JAMA Cardiology examining immune changes and arterial inflammation during treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, VEGF inhibitors, or both.
New research from the School of Infection & Immunity's Maffia Lab and the School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health Lang Lab has explored what happens to the immune system and vasculature during treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors, alone or in combination with VEGF inhibitors.
Published on JAMA Cardiology, the study brought together expertise across cardiology, oncology and immunology in a multidisciplinary collaboration involving colleagues from Sii and SCMH.
Their work explored what happens to the immune system and vasculature during treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), alone or in combination with VEGF inhibitors.
Using deep spectral flow cytometry, they found that checkpoint inhibition produced selective changes in T-cell populations, reductions in CD4+ and CD8+ progenitor-exhausted cells, alongside expansion of CD8+ effector and terminal effector cells.
Importantly, some of these changes were attenuated when VEGF inhibition was given alongside checkpoint inhibition.
The proteomic data told a similarly nuanced story: rather than broad systemic inflammation, ICI treatment was associated with a highly selective immune response, including increases in PD-1 and CXCL9 and enrichment of adaptive immune functions.
Yet, despite these measurable changes in immune phenotype, they saw no increase in FDG-PET-detectable arterial inflammation, suggesting that checkpoint inhibition reshapes systemic immunity without simply translating into macrophage-driven inflammation within the arterial wall.
Professor Pasquale Maffia described the work as "a great multidisciplinary collaboration", with Ninian Lang and Steve Rankin from SCMH leading the clinical study and Dr Neil MacRitchie and Moustafa Morsy from Sii leading the immunophenotyping - "bringing together expertise across cardiology, oncology and immunology".
The team acknowledged support from the British Heart Foundation for the immunophenotyping component of the study, which enabled researchers to investigate the immune changes underlying these important clinical questions.
First published: 5 October 2026