# Topics and Trends in Most Cited T-cell and B-cell Immunology Papers, Class of 2026

*Canonical URL: https://pri.pepkio.com/top-papers/t-cell-and-b-cell-immunology/2026*

## 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.

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| 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

| Rank | Title | Authors | Corresponding authors | Affiliation | Journal | 18m citations | DOI |
| ---: | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---: | --- |
| 1 | Xist ribonucleoproteins promote female sex-biased autoimmunity | Diana R Dou, Yanding Zhao, Julia A Belk, Yang Zhao, Kerriann M Casey, Derek C Chen, Rui Li, Bingfei Yu, Suhas Srinivasan, Brian T Abe, Katerina Kraft, Ceke Hellström, Ronald Sjöberg, Sarah Chang, Allan Feng, Daniel W Goldman, Ami A Shah, Michelle Petri, Lorinda S Chung, David F Fiorentino, Emma K Lundberg, Anton Wutz, Paul J Utz, Howard Y Chang | Howard Y. Chang | Stanford University, United States | Cell | 133 | 10.1016/j.cell.2023.12.037 |
| 2 | Dysfunction of exhausted T cells is enforced by MCT11-mediated lactate metabolism | Ronal M Peralta, Bingxian Xie, Konstantinos Lontos, Hector Nieves-Rosado, Kellie Spahr, Supriya Joshi, B Rhodes Ford, Kevin Quann, Andrew T Frisch, Victoria Dean, Mary Philbin, Anthony R Cillo, Sebastian Gingras, Amanda C Poholek, Lawrence P Kane, Dayana B Rivadeneira, Greg M Delgoffe | Greg M. Delgoffe | University of Pittsburgh, United States | Nature Immunology | 130 | 10.1038/s41590-024-01999-3 |
| 3 | Open-ST: High-resolution spatial transcriptomics in 3D | Marie Schott, Daniel León-Periñán, Elena Splendiani, Leon Strenger, Jan Robin Licha, Tancredi Massimo Pentimalli, Simon Schallenberg, Jonathan Alles, Sarah Samut Tagliaferro, Anastasiya Boltengagen, Sebastian Ehrig, Stefano Abbiati, Steffen Dommerich, Massimiliano Pagani, Elisabetta Ferretti, Giuseppe Macino, Nikos Karaiskos, Nikolaus Rajewsky | Giuseppe Macino, Nikos Karaiskos, Nikolaus Rajewsky | Max-Delbrück-Centrum for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, Germany | Cell | 126 | 10.1016/j.cell.2024.05.055 |
| 4 | IL-10-expressing CAR T cells resist dysfunction and mediate durable clearance of solid tumors and metastases | Yang Zhao, Jiangqing Chen, Massimo Andreatta, Bing Feng, Yu-Qing Xie, Mathias Wenes, Yi Wang, Min Gao, Xiaomeng Hu, Pedro Romero, Santiago Carmona, Jie Sun, Yugang Guo, Li Tang | Li Tang | École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland | Nature Biotechnology | 125 | 10.1038/s41587-023-02060-8 |
| 5 | BCMA-CD19 compound CAR T cells for systemic lupus erythematosus: a phase 1 open-label clinical trial | Weijia Wang, Shanzhi He, Wenli Zhang, Hongyu Zhang, Vincent M DeStefano, Masayuki Wada, Kevin Pinz, Greg Deener, Darshi Shah, Nabil Hagag, Min Wang, Ming Hong, Ronghao Zeng, Ting Lan, Yu Ma, Fugui Li, Yingwen Liang, Zhencong Guo, Chanjuan Zou, Mingxia Wang, Ling Ding, Yupo Ma, Yong Yuan | Yong Yuan | Zhongshan City People's Hospital, China | Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases | 119 | 10.1136/ard-2024-225785 |
| 6 | Circadian tumor infiltration and function of CD8+ T cells dictate immunotherapy efficacy | Chen Wang, Qun Zeng, Zeynep Melis Gül, Sisi Wang, Robert Pick, Phil Cheng, Ruben Bill, Yan Wu, Stefan Naulaerts, Coline Barnoud, Pei-Chun Hsueh, Sofie Hedlund Moller, Mara Cenerenti, Mengzhu Sun, Ziyang Su, Stéphane Jemelin, Volodymyr Petrenko, Charna Dibner, Stéphanie Hugues, Camilla Jandus, Zhongwu Li, Olivier Michielin, Ping-Chih Ho, Abhishek D Garg, Federico Simonetta, Mikaël J Pittet, Christoph Scheiermann | Chen Wang, Christoph Scheiermann | University of Geneva, Switzerland | Cell | 110 | 10.1016/j.cell.2024.04.015 |
| 7 | Smoking changes adaptive immunity with persistent effects | Violaine Saint-André, Bruno Charbit, Anne Biton, Vincent Rouilly, Céline Possémé, Anthony Bertrand, Maxime Rotival, Jacob Bergstedt, Etienne Patin, Matthew L Albert, Lluis Quintana-Murci, Darragh Duffy, Milieu Intérieur Consortium | Violaine Saint‐André, Darragh Duffy | Institut Pasteur, France | Nature | 108 | 10.1038/s41586-023-06968-8 |
| 8 | Spatiotemporal single-cell analysis decodes cellular dynamics underlying different responses to immunotherapy in colorectal cancer | Yuqing Chen, Dongfang Wang, Yingjie Li, Lu Qi, Wen Si, Yufei Bo, Xueyan Chen, Zhaochen Ye, Hongtao Fan, Baolin Liu, Chang Liu, Li Zhang, Xiaoyan Zhang, Zhongwu Li, Linna Zhu, Aiwen Wu, Zemin Zhang | Dongfang Wang, Aiwen Wu, Zemin Zhang | Peking University, China | Cancer Cell | 108 | 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.06.009 |
| 9 | Unlocking the full potential of memory T cells in adoptive T cell therapy for hematologic malignancies | Ding-Ya Sun, Yi-Jie Hu, Xin Li, Jun Peng, Zhi-Jie Dai, Shan Wang | Jun Peng, Zhijie Dai, Shan Wang | Central South University, China | International Immunopharmacology | 107 | 10.1016/j.intimp.2024.113392 |
| 10 | The type 2 cytokine Fc–IL-4 revitalizes exhausted CD8+ T cells against cancer | Bing Feng, Zhiliang Bai, Xiaolei Zhou, Yang Zhao, Yu-Qing Xie, Xinyi Huang, Yang Liu, Tom Enbar, Rongrong Li, Yi Wang, Min Gao, Lucia Bonati, Mei-Wen Peng, Weilin Li, Bo Tao, Mélanie Charmoy, Werner Held, J Joseph Melenhorst, Rong Fan, Yugang Guo, Li Tang | Rong Fan, Yugang Guo, Li Tang | École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland | Nature | 105 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07962-4 |
| 11 | FOXO1 is a master regulator of memory programming in CAR T cells | Alexander E Doan, Katherine P Mueller, Andy Y Chen, Geoffrey T Rouin, Yingshi Chen, Bence Daniel, John Lattin, Martina Markovska, Brett Mozarsky, Jose Arias-Umana, Robert Hapke, In-Young Jung, Alice Wang, Peng Xu, Dorota Klysz, Gabrielle Zuern, Malek Bashti, Patrick J Quinn, Zhuang Miao, Katalin Sandor, Wenxi Zhang, Gregory M Chen, Faith Ryu, Meghan Logun, Junior Hall, Kai Tan, Stephan A Grupp, Susan E McClory, Caleb A Lareau, Joseph A Fraietta, Elena Sotillo, Ansuman T Satpathy, Crystal L Mackall, Evan W Weber | Crystal L. Mackall, Evan W. Weber | Stanford University, United States | Nature | 104 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07300-8 |
| 12 | Immune system adaptation during gender-affirming testosterone treatment | Tadepally Lakshmikanth, Camila Consiglio, Fabian Sardh, Rikard Forlin, Jun Wang, Ziyang Tan, Hugo Barcenilla, Lucie Rodriguez, Jamie Sugrue, Peri Noori, Margarita Ivanchenko, Laura Piñero Páez, Laura Gonzalez, Constantin Habimana Mugabo, Anette Johnsson, Henrik Ryberg, Åsa Hallgren, Christian Pou, Yang Chen, Jaromír Mikeš, Anna James, Per Dahlqvist, Jeanette Wahlberg, Anders Hagelin, Mats Holmberg, Marie Degerblad, Magnus Isaksson, Darragh Duffy, Olle Kämpe, Nils Landegren, Petter Brodin | Nils Landegren, Petter Brodin | Karolinska Institutet, Sweden | Nature | 99 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07789-z |
| 13 | Osr2 functions as a biomechanical checkpoint to aggravate CD8+ T cell exhaustion in tumor | Jinjia Zhang, Junhong Li, Yongqiang Hou, Yao Lin, Hao Zhao, Yiran Shi, Kaiyun Chen, Cheng Nian, Jiayu Tang, Lei Pan, Yunzhi Xing, Huan Gao, Bingying Yang, Zengfang Song, Yao Cheng, Yue Liu, Min Sun, Yueyue Linghu, Jiaxin Li, Haitao Huang, Zhangjian Lai, Zhien Zhou, Zifeng Li, Xiufeng Sun, Qinghua Chen, Dongxue Su, Wengang Li, Zhihai Peng, Pingguo Liu, Wei Chen, Hongling Huang, Yixin Chen, Bailong Xiao, Lilin Ye, Lanfen Chen, Dawang Zhou | Jinjia Zhang | Xiamen University, China | Cell | 98 | 10.1016/j.cell.2024.04.023 |
| 14 | BCMA-Targeted T-Cell–Engager Therapy for Autoimmune Disease | Melanie Hagen, Laura Bucci, Sebastian Böltz, Danae-Mona Nöthling, Tobias Rothe, Kirill Anoshkin, Maria G Raimondo, Carlo Tur, Andreas Wirsching, Jochen Wacker, Christina Düsing, Jörg H W Distler, Torsten Kuwert, Aline Bozec, Andreas Ramming, Georg Schett, Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer | Melanie Hagen | Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany | New England Journal of Medicine | 95 | 10.1056/nejmc2408786 |
| 15 | PGE2 limits effector expansion of tumour-infiltrating stem-like CD8+ T cells | Sebastian B Lacher, Janina Dörr, Gustavo P de Almeida, Julian Hönninger, Felix Bayerl, Anna Hirschberger, Anna-Marie Pedde, Philippa Meiser, Lukas Ramsauer, Thomas J Rudolph, Nadine Spranger, Matteo Morotti, Alizee J Grimm, Sebastian Jarosch, Arman Oner, Lisa Gregor, Stefanie Lesch, Stefanos Michaelides, Luisa Fertig, Daria Briukhovetska, Lina Majed, Sophia Stock, Dirk H Busch, Veit R Buchholz, Percy A Knolle, Dietmar Zehn, Denarda Dangaj Laniti, Sebastian Kobold, Jan P Böttcher | Jan P. Böttcher | Technical University of Munich, Germany | Nature | 93 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07254-x |
| 16 | Lymphatic-localized Treg-mregDC crosstalk limits antigen trafficking and restrains anti-tumor immunity | Siyuan You, Shuqin Li, Lingsu Zeng, Jinsheng Song, Zifeng Li, Weiyun Li, Hengxiao Ni, Xu Xiao, Wenbo Deng, Hongye Li, Wenbo Lin, Chenyu Liang, Yanfei Zheng, Shih-Chin Cheng, Nengming Xiao, Mengsha Tong, Rongshan Yu, Jialiang Huang, Hongling Huang, Hongzhi Xu, Jiahuai Han, Jianlin Ren, Kairui Mao | Siyuan You | Xiamen University, China | Cancer Cell | 79 | 10.1016/j.ccell.2024.06.014 |
| 17 | GLUT1 overexpression in CAR-T cells induces metabolic reprogramming and enhances potency | Justin A Guerrero, Dorota D Klysz, Yiyun Chen, Meena Malipatlolla, Jameel Lone, Carley Fowler, Lucille Stuani, Audre May, Malek Bashti, Peng Xu, Jing Huang, Basil Michael, Kévin Contrepois, Shaurya Dhingra, Chris Fisher, Katrin J Svensson, Kara L Davis, Maya Kasowski, Steven A Feldman, Elena Sotillo, Crystal L Mackall | Elena Sotillo, Crystal L. Mackall | Stanford University, United States | Nature Communications | 76 | 10.1038/s41467-024-52666-y |
| 18 | Programming tissue-sensing T cells that deliver therapies to the brain | Milos S Simic, Payal B Watchmaker, Sasha Gupta, Yuan Wang, Sharon A Sagan, Jason Duecker, Chanelle Shepherd, David Diebold, Psalm Pineo-Cavanaugh, Jeffrey Haegelin, Robert Zhu, Ben Ng, Wei Yu, Yurie Tonai, Lia Cardarelli, Nishith R Reddy, Sachdev S Sidhu, Olga Troyanskaya, Stephen L Hauser, Michael R Wilson, Scott S Zamvil, Hideho Okada, Wendell A Lim | Milos Simic, Payal Watchmaker, Scott S. Zamvil, Hideho Okada, Wendell A. Lim | University of California San Francisco, United States | Science | 76 | 10.1126/science.adl4237 |
| 19 | A spatial human thymus cell atlas mapped to a continuous tissue axis | Nadav Yayon, Veronika R Kedlian, Lena Boehme, Chenqu Suo, Brianna T Wachter, Rebecca T Beuschel, Oren Amsalem, Krzysztof Polanski, Simon Koplev, Elizabeth Tuck, Emma Dann, Jolien Van Hulle, Shani Perera, Tom Putteman, Alexander V Predeus, Monika Dabrowska, Laura Richardson, Catherine Tudor, Alexandra Y Kreins, Justin Engelbert, Emily Stephenson, Vitalii Kleshchevnikov, Fabrizio De Rita, David Crossland, Marita Bosticardo, Francesca Pala, Elena Prigmore, Nana-Jane Chipampe, Martin Prete, Lijiang Fei, Ken To, Roger A Barker, Xiaoling He, Filip Van Nieuwerburgh, Omer Ali Bayraktar, Minal Patel, E Graham Davies, Muzlifah A Haniffa, Virginie Uhlmann, Luigi D Notarangelo, Ronald N Germain, Andrea J Radtke, John C Marioni, Tom Taghon, Sarah A Teichmann | Ronald N. Germain, Andrea J. Radtke, John C. Marioni, Tom Taghon, Sarah A. Teichmann | Wellcome Sanger Institute, United Kingdom | Nature | 75 | 10.1038/s41586-024-07944-6 |
| 20 | The transcription factor ZEB2 drives the formation of age-associated B cells | Dai Dai, Shuangshuang Gu, Xiaxia Han, Huihua Ding, Yang Jiang, Xiaoou Zhang, Chao Yao, Soonmin Hong, Jinsong Zhang, Yiwei Shen, Guojun Hou, Bo Qu, Haibo Zhou, Yuting Qin, Yuke He, Jianyang Ma, Zhihua Yin, Zhizhong Ye, Jie Qian, Qian Jiang, Lihua Wu, Qiang Guo, Sheng Chen, Chuanxin Huang, Leah C Kottyan, Matthew T Weirauch, Carola G Vinuesa, Nan Shen | Dai Dai, Shuangshuang Gu, Xiaxia Han, Carola G. Vinuesa, Nan Shen | Shanghai Institute of Rheumatology, China | Science | 70 | 10.1126/science.adf8531 |

## Topic trends

### 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*

### 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*

## 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
```