{
  "abstract": "Mechanistic assignment in cancer immunology often assumes that durable antitumor effects reflect sustained pharmacologic pressure on tumor cells. Dihydroartemisinin (DHA) provides a useful test case for revisiting this assumption because clinically achievable systemic exposure is brief and free-drug availability is constrained by substantial protein binding. We therefore propose that brief systemic DHA exposure may act as a pharmacokinetically constrained immune-conditioning pulse whose durable antitumor effects, when present, could involve persistent tumor-intrinsic injury, immune relay, or both. Within this framework, transient tumor or stromal stress may be converted into longer-lived antitumor activity through myeloid-state transition, dendritic-cell activation, relief of immune exclusion, and subsequent CD8 ⁺ T-cell priming. Current evidence does not yet establish a dominant immune mechanism under exposure-matched conditions. Suppressive myeloid-state change, a tumor stress–dendritic cell–CD8 ⁺ T-cell axis, and direct lymphocyte responsiveness are competing hypotheses for exposure-matched testing alongside direct tumor-cell effects. This framework informs exposure-matched experimental design, biomarker development, and rational immunotherapy combinations, and provides a falsifiable prioritization scheme based on exposure matching, temporal precedence, persistence after washout, and in vivo necessity.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Immunology, Zhuhai Campus of Zunyi Medical University",
    "Shengli Clinical Medical College of Fujian Medical University",
    "Department of Thoracic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 5,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Pei Wei"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jiahua Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Yuan Cao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Yongxiang Song"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Zhiyong Wang"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9a4s96aksf8zm.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fimmu.2026.1955672",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "9a4s96aksf8zm",
  "issns": [
    "1664-3224"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1955672/full",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": null,
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-29",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9a4s96aksf8zm.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:19Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fimmu.2026.1955672",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1955672/full"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "issn:1664-3224",
      "subfield": "immunology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Dihydroartemisinin as a pharmacokinetically constrained immune-conditioning pulse in cancer therapy",
  "title_text": "Dihydroartemisinin as a pharmacokinetically constrained immune-conditioning pulse in cancer therapy",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-31T00:20:59Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9a4s96aksf8zm",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Immunology",
  "versions": []
}