cDC1 dysregulation in cancer: An opportunity for intervention.

Conventional dendritic cells driven by the transcription factor Batf3 (cDC1 cells) are critical for the activation and maintenance of tumor-specific CD8+ T cells. In this issue of JEM, Lin et al. (https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20190673) demonstrate systemic dysfunction of cDC1 cells in pancreatic cancer, which offers potential treatment strategies to expand the benefit of checkpoint blockade immunotherapy.