LAUSR

Significance Adoptive immune cell therapies have shown remarkable clinical success for the treatment of certain blood-based cancers, with potential for other cancer types on the horizon. However, these treatments are not effective in some patients and/or induce serious side effects in others. A better understanding of where these therapeutic cells go and how they interact in the body is key for addressing these challenges. In this study, we demonstrate a novel bioengineering strategy in immune cells that allows antigen-dependent, cell–cell communication to be visualized within tumors in mice using optical and MRI. We posit these tools will improve our ability to monitor cell therapies in patients using established clinical imaging modalities and promote the development of novel cell-based products.