Topics and Trends in Most Cited T-cell and B-cell Immunology Papers

Ranked by citations 18 months after publication

Class of 2026 (Papers Published in 2024)

What topics and trends defined most-cited T-cell and B-cell Immunology research in the Class of 2026?

T-cell and B-cell immunology in 2024 is led by tumor microenvironment dynamics, T cell exhaustion, and regulatory T cell biology. CAR T cell therapies and spatial transcriptomics achieved major gains, while broad single-cell sequencing and CD8+ T cell profiling contracted as research pivoted toward targeted synthetic constructs and immune synapse mechanics.

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Updated July 21, 2026

At a glance

Field
T-cell and B-cell Immunology
Cohort label
Class of 2026 (2024 publications)
Papers analyzed
4,834
Papers ranked
20
Top topics in ranked papers
Tumor microenvironment, T cell exhaustion, Regulatory T cells, Immune checkpoint blockade, Spatial transcriptomics
Publication window
Jan 1, 2024 – Dec 31, 2024
Eligibility
Research articles; reviews excluded
Citation window
18 months post-publication
18m citation range
70–133
Data source
OpenAlex · Retrieved Jul 2026
License
CC BY 4.0

Rankings

20 papers ranked by 18-month citation count

#1 of 4,834
13318m citations

Xist ribonucleoproteins promote female sex-biased autoimmunity

Diana R Dou et al.Cell202410.1016/j.cell.2023.12.037

Howard Y. ChangStanford University, United States

Xist long non-coding RNAX chromosome inactivationSex-biased autoimmunityXist ribonucleoprotein complexautoantibodiestransgenic Xist expressionnon-silencing XistSJL/J micepristane-induced lupus modelT cell reprogrammingB cell reprogrammingchromatin state changesXX sex chromosome complementlncRNA scaffold
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#2 of 4,834
13018m citations

Dysfunction of exhausted T cells is enforced by MCT11-mediated lactate metabolism

Ronal M Peralta et al.Nature Immunology202410.1038/s41590-024-01999-3

Greg M. DelgoffeUniversity of Pittsburgh, United States

T cell exhaustionSLC16A11lactate metabolismmonocarboxylate transporterCD8+ T cellsTumor microenvironmentT cell receptor activationCoinhibitory receptorsPolyfunctional T cellsconditional gene deletionantibody-mediated targetinglactic acid uptakeAntitumor immunitytumor-bearing mouse modelimmunosuppressive metabolismTerminally exhausted T cellseffector function restorationtumor growth reduction
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#3 of 4,834
12618m citations

Open-ST: High-resolution spatial transcriptomics in 3D

Marie Schott et al.Cell202410.1016/j.cell.2024.05.055

Giuseppe Macino, Nikos Karaiskos, Nikolaus RajewskyMax-Delbrück-Centrum for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Germany

Open-STSpatial transcriptomicssubcellular resolution3D reconstructionmouse brainhead-and-neck tumorsmetastatic lymph nodescell-cell communication hotspotsimmune cell populationsstromal populationstumor populationscell type reconstructioncell statesTumor microenvironment3D tumor boundaryMultimodal profilingsequencing-based methodopen-source protocols
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#6 of 4,834
11018m citations

Circadian tumor infiltration and function of CD8+ T cells dictate immunotherapy efficacy

Chen Wang et al.Cell202410.1016/j.cell.2024.04.015

Chen Wang, Christoph ScheiermannUniversity of Geneva, Switzerland

Circadian rhythmCD8+ T cellstumor infiltrationimmunotherapy efficacyleukocyte infiltrationendothelial cellsTumor microenvironmentCAR T cell therapyImmune checkpoint blockadetime-of-day treatmentanti-PD-1 therapymelanomatime-of-day-dependent T cell signaturesoverall survival prediction
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#7 of 4,834
10818m citations

Smoking changes adaptive immunity with persistent effects

Violaine Saint-André et al.Nature202410.1038/s41586-023-06968-8

Violaine Saint‐André, Darragh DuffyInstitut Pasteur, France

cytokine secretion variabilitysmokingcytomegalovirus latent infectionbody mass indexinnate immune responsesAdaptive immunitysmoking cessationCEACAM6epigenetic memoryDNA methylationsignal trans-activatorsmetabolic regulatorsimmune challenge responselong-term immunological effects
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#8 of 4,834
10818m citations

Spatiotemporal single-cell analysis decodes cellular dynamics underlying different responses to immunotherapy in colorectal cancer

Yuqing Chen et al.Cancer Cell202410.1016/j.ccell.2024.06.009

Dongfang Wang, Aiwen Wu, Zemin ZhangPeking University, China

spatiotemporal single-cell analysisimmunotherapy responsecolorectal cancercellular dynamicsTumor microenvironmentSingle-cell RNA sequencingSpatial transcriptomicsimmune checkpoint inhibitorsT cell infiltrationTumor-infiltrating lymphocytescancer-associated fibroblastsmyeloid cellsTherapeutic resistanceresponder vs non-respondertemporal evolution
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#9 of 4,834
10718m citations

Unlocking the full potential of memory T cells in adoptive T cell therapy for hematologic malignancies

Ding-Ya Sun et al.International Immunopharmacology202410.1016/j.intimp.2024.113392

Jun Peng, Zhijie Dai, Shan WangCentral South University, China

Memory T cellsAdoptive cell therapyhematologic malignanciesT cell differentiationcentral memory T cellseffector memory T cellsstem cell memory T cellsT cell persistenceantitumor efficacyT cell exhaustionCAR T cell therapyT cell manufacturingcytokine signalingT cell expansionTumor microenvironment
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#10 of 4,834
10518m citations

The type 2 cytokine Fc–IL-4 revitalizes exhausted CD8+ T cells against cancer

Bing Feng, Zhiliang Bai et al.Nature202410.1038/s41586-024-07962-4

Rong Fan, Yugang Guo, Li TangÉcole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

Fc–IL-4type 2 cytokineexhausted CD8+ T cellsTerminally exhausted T cellstype 1 immunityAdoptive cell therapyImmune checkpoint blockadeSTAT6 pathwaymTOR pathwayGlycolysisNAD concentrationlactate dehydrogenase ALDHA-dependent mechanismmetabolic modulationtype 2 immunitysyngeneic tumour modelsxenograft tumour modelscancer immunotherapy synergy
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#11 of 4,834
10418m citations

FOXO1 is a master regulator of memory programming in CAR T cells

Alexander E Doan, Katherine P Mueller, Andy Y Chen et al.Nature202410.1038/s41586-024-07300-8

Crystal L. Mackall, Evan W. WeberStanford University, United States

FOXO1CAR T cellsMemory reprogrammingT cell exhaustionTCF1chimeric antigen receptorT cell persistencememory-associated genesFOXO1 overexpressionChromatin accessibilityFOXO1-binding motifsChronic antigen stimulationmetabolic fitnessTumor-infiltrating lymphocytesantitumor activityFOXO1 inhibitiongene editingtherapeutic T cell states
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#12 of 4,834
9918m citations

Immune system adaptation during gender-affirming testosterone treatment

Tadepally Lakshmikanth, Camila Consiglio, Nils Landegren, Petter Brodin et al.Nature202410.1038/s41586-024-07789-z

Nils Landegren, Petter BrodinKarolinska Institutet, Sweden

gender-affirming testosterone therapytrans mentype-I interferonTNFplasmacytoid dendritic cellsmonocytesinterleukin-6Interleukin-15nuclear factor kappa Binterferon-γ responsenatural killer cellssex-divergent immune responselongitudinal systems-level immune profilingtestosterone-mediated immune modulationSARS-CoV-2 infection sex differenceslong COVIDvaccine response sex differencesSex-biased autoimmunitysex hormone regulation of immunitycross-regulated cytokine axis
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#15 of 4,834
9318m citations

PGE2 limits effector expansion of tumour-infiltrating stem-like CD8+ T cells

Sebastian B Lacher, Janina Dörr et al.Nature202410.1038/s41586-024-07254-x

Jan P. BöttcherTechnical University of Munich, Germany

Prostaglandin E2Precursor exhausted T cellsTumor-infiltrating lymphocytesEP2 receptorEP4 receptoreffector T cell differentiationImmune evasioninterleukin-2 signallingIL-2 responsivenessintratumoural T cell expansionEP2/EP4 ablationprostaglandin E2 signallingearly effector T cellslate effector T cellsdraining lymph node primingPGE2-EP2/EP4 axistumour eliminationImmunotherapy resistance
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#16 of 4,834
7918m citations

Lymphatic-localized Treg-mregDC crosstalk limits antigen trafficking and restrains anti-tumor immunity

Siyuan You et al.Cancer Cell202410.1016/j.ccell.2024.06.014

Siyuan YouXiamen University, China

lymphatic-localizedRegulatory T cellsmregDCantigen traffickingAntitumor immunitymigratory regulatory dendritic cellsTumor microenvironmentlymphatic systemImmunosuppressiondendritic cell migrationT cell-DC crosstalktumor antigen presentationLymph nodesCancer immunology
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#17 of 4,834
7618m citations

GLUT1 overexpression in CAR-T cells induces metabolic reprogramming and enhances potency

Justin A Guerrero, Dorota D Klysz et al.Nature Communications202410.1038/s41467-024-52666-y

Elena Sotillo, Crystal L. MackallStanford University, United States

GLUT1 overexpressionCAR T cellsMetabolic reprogrammingglucose consumptionGlycolysisglycolytic reserveoxidative phosphorylationT cell exhaustionTh17 differentiationglutathione-mediated ROS resistanceinosine accumulationproinflammatory cytokinescytotoxicitytumor controlCAR-T cell persistenceTumor microenvironmentglucose availabilityantitumor potency
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#18 of 4,834
7618m citations

Programming tissue-sensing T cells that deliver therapies to the brain

Milos S Simic, Payal B Watchmaker et al.Science202410.1126/science.adl4237

Milos Simic, Payal Watchmaker, Scott S. Zamvil, Hideho Okada, Wendell A. LimUniversity of California San Francisco, United States

Synthetic Notch receptorsCNS-specific antigensCNS extracellular matrixtissue-sensing T cellschimeric antigen receptorbrain tumor targetingInterleukin-10neuroinflammation modelconditional payload expressionglial cell surface moleculesneuronal surface moleculesprimary brain tumorssecondary brain tumorsanatomically targeted therapyimmunosuppressive cytokine deliverycross-reactivity avoidanceengineered T cell programming
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#19 of 4,834
7518m citations

A spatial human thymus cell atlas mapped to a continuous tissue axis

Nadav Yayon, Veronika R Kedlian, Lena Boehme et al.Nature202410.1038/s41586-024-07944-6

Ronald N. Germain, Andrea J. Radtke, John C. Marioni, Tom Taghon, Sarah A. TeichmannWellcome Sanger Institute, United Kingdom

Cortico-Medullary AxisSpatial transcriptomicsMultiplexed imagingmultimodal single-cell atlasthymic involutionlobular cytokine networkthymocyte trajectoriesthymic epithelial cellHassall's corpusclesmedullary entry timingCD4 T cell lineageCD8 T cell lineagethymic epithelial cell progenitorsfetal thymus developmentsecond trimesterTissueTagOrganAxis constructionT lymphocyte developmentspatially resolved analysis
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#20 of 4,834
7018m citations

The transcription factor ZEB2 drives the formation of age-associated B cells

Dai Dai, Shuangshuang Gu, Xiaxia Han et al.Science202410.1126/science.adf8531

Dai Dai, Shuangshuang Gu, Xiaxia Han, Carola G. Vinuesa, Nan ShenShanghai Institute of Rheumatology, China

Age-associated B cellsZEB2transcription factor screenZEB2 haploinsufficiencyTLR7-driven lupustoll-like receptor 7MEF2BMef2b intronic enhancergerminal center B cell differentiationItgaxJAK-STAT pathwayJAK1/3 inhibitorlupus pathogenesisB cell autoimmunityABC specification
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Dominant research themes and year-over-year shifts in T-cell and B-cell Immunology

What Topics Define the Class of 2026?

In the Class of 2026 cohort for T-cell and B-cell immunology, research is heavily anchored around the tumor microenvironment (normalized frequency 0.26, 13 papers) and mechanisms of immunotherapeutic response and resistance. T cell exhaustion (0.14, 7 papers) and regulatory T cells (0.12, 6 papers) emerge as primary functional axes, highlighting ongoing efforts to understand transcriptional and metabolic dysfunction within immune cells exposed to chronic antigen stimulation. Concurrent focus on antitumor immunity (0.10, 5 papers) and immune checkpoint blockade (0.10, 5 papers) underscores a field-wide transition toward dissecting resistance mechanisms and optimizing therapeutic combinations. Methodologically, spatial transcriptomics (0.10, 5 papers) and single-cell RNA sequencing (0.08, 4 papers) dominate high-impact investigation, enabling researchers to map cell-cell crosstalk, cellular niches, and spatial heterogeneity within tissues. Furthermore, engineered cellular therapies such as CAR T cell therapy (0.08, 4 papers) and chimeric antigen receptor constructs (0.06, 3 papers) represent pivotal translational hubs. Clinical applications in hematologic malignancies like multiple myeloma (0.06, 3 papers), paired with fundamental studies on Interleukin-10 (0.06, 3 papers) and immunological memory (0.06, 3 papers), reflect an integrated paradigm spanning mechanistic discovery and targeted synthetic immunology.

Leading research themes
Leading research themes

How Did Topics Shift from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2026?

Comparing the Class of 2025 and Class of 2026 cohorts reveals a distinct shift from generalized immune profiling toward actionable synthetic immunology and therapeutic engineering. The most prominent rise is seen in CAR T cell therapy, which surged 4-fold from a normalized frequency of 0.02 (1 paper) to 0.08 (4 papers), alongside a parallel emergence of specific target platforms including BCMA, bispecific antibodies, CTLA-4 blockade, and synthetic Notch receptors. Spatial transcriptomics also accelerated significantly from 0.06 (3 papers) to 0.10 (5 papers), reflecting rapid adoption of spatial multi-omics over unstructured single-cell suspensions. Conversely, foundational broad descriptors experienced noticeable relative declines. CD8+ T cells dropped from 0.14 (7 papers) to 0.06 (3 papers), single-cell RNA sequencing decreased from 0.12 (6 papers) to 0.08 (4 papers), and general antitumor immunity shifted from 0.14 (7 papers) to 0.10 (5 papers). Rather than indicating waning interest, this contraction signals a maturation of the literature: researchers have moved past broad cellular surveys toward specific, high-resolution mechanistic sub-phenotypes such as terminally exhausted T cells, immune synapses, and metabolic reprogramming (glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation).

How topics shifted year over year
How topics shifted year over year
Methodology

PRI identifies high-impact research using a transparent, topic-agnostic framework applied consistently across scientific domains. Bibliographic records are drawn from OpenAlex, including publication dates, citation relationships, and document types.

This ranking covers the Class of 2026 cohort: journal articles published in 2024. Reviews and other non-article document types are excluded to ensure comparability.

Research impact is quantified with an 18-month post-publication citation window—the number of citing works published within 18 months of each paper's publication date. This metric captures early impact while controlling for publication age.

An LLM-based relevance classifier then reviews each candidate's title and abstract to confirm substantive alignment with the target domain. Only papers classified as relevant appear in the final ranking.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459

Full methodologyGitHubbioRxiv preprint

Cite this ranking

Pepkio Research Index (PRI). Topics and Trends in Most Cited T-cell and B-cell Immunology Papers, Class of 2026. https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/t-cell-and-b-cell-immunology/2026. Accessed 2026-07-21.

Zheng Su, Tinsley Li, Thematic Shifts in Early-High-Impact Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics Research: A Bibliometric and Semantic Analysis. bioRxiv 2026.07.04.736459; doi: https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.07.04.736459