Definition and research guide
This page combines a MeSH definition, publication statistics and selected research abstracts. It is a starting point for reading the literature, not a medical textbook or a systematic evidence review.
Content available: 3 complete abstracts (437 words), 9 references. Full article text is not stored or reproduced here; follow the PMID, DOI or PMC links to read the original sources and their access terms.
Definition
They are oval or bean shaped bodies (1 - 30 mm in diameter) located along the lymphatic system.
Definition: NLM Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) scope note (Public domain (U.S. National Library of Medicine); attribution requested). View the MeSH record.
Also known as: Lymph Node; Node, Lymph; Nodes, Lymph.
Where it fits in the MeSH classification
- Broader topics
- Lymphoid Tissue
- Narrower topics
- Germinal Center; Sentinel Lymph Node
- See also
- Lymph Node Excision; Lymphography
Research landscape
PubMed indexes 106,690 records tagged with the MeSH heading “Lymph Nodes” (counts retrieved 2026-10-31). 17,349 of them (16.3%) were published from 2020 onward, and the busiest period so far is through 1999 with 42,584 records.
Reviews account for 8,204 records (7.7%) and meta-analyses for 801. Randomized controlled trials number 954 (0.9%) as a share of all records on the topic. Randomized trials make up only a small share of this literature, so much of what is known comes from laboratory, observational or descriptive work.
Show the data
| Period | Records |
|---|---|
| through 1999 | 42,584 |
| 2000-2009 | 19,700 |
| 2010-2019 | 27,057 |
| 2020 onward | 17,349 |
Publication-type chart data
| Type | Records | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews | 8,204 | 7.7% |
| Meta-analyses | 801 | 0.8% |
| Randomized controlled trials | 954 | 0.9% |
Method: PubMed query "Lymph Nodes"[MeSH Terms] with publication-type and date filters, retrieved 2026-10-31.
Reading the evidence in anatomy and physiology
Anatomy describes how body structures are built and physiology describes how they normally work, so most findings here are descriptive or mechanistic rather than evidence about treatment. Much of what is known comes from dissection, imaging, tissue studies and experiments in animals, and measurements in healthy volunteers can differ from those in people with disease or at different ages. Normal ranges vary between individuals and populations. Check whether a result was measured in people or in another species, the age and health of the participants, and the method used.
Evidence from open-access studies
These open-access studies come from PubMed’s best-match results for this heading (papers whose main topic it is), ranked here by citation count, with one recent addition. Each abstract is reproduced in full under its recorded open licence so that you can read the authors’ own words. They illustrate the literature; they are not a systematic summary of it. Citation counts measure attention, not reliability or clinical benefit.
| Study / authors | Year | Source label / design | Europe PMC citations | Licence / source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Replaying germinal center evolution on a quantified affinity landscape | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 20 | cc by PMID 42248140 · DOI · PMC13360575 |
| Lymph node colonization induces tissue remodeling via immunosuppressive fibroblast-myeloid cell niches supporting metastatic tolerance | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 18 | cc by PMID 41616773 · DOI · PMC13289805 |
| PD-1 antibody-bound progenitor-exhausted CD8+ T cells in lymph nodes boost PD-1-blockade anti-tumor immunity in gastrointestinal cancer | 2026 | Research article Design not recorded in structured metadata | 5 | cc by PMID 41951588 · DOI · PMC13237225 |
Replaying germinal center evolution on a quantified affinity landscape [1]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Darwinian evolution of immunoglobulin genes within germinal centers (GCs) underlies the progressive increase in antibody affinity following antigen exposure.
- Closing excerpt
- We infer a fitness landscape that quantitatively recapitulates the affinity maturation trajectory of our clone and find that apparent features of GC selection, such as permissiveness to low-affinity lineages and rapid plateauing of affinity, are likely artifacts of survivorship biases that distort our view of how B cell affinity progresses over time.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (148 words)
Darwinian evolution of immunoglobulin genes within germinal centers (GCs) underlies the progressive increase in antibody affinity following antigen exposure. Whereas the cellular mechanics of how competition between B cells increases affinity are well established, the evolutionary dynamics of this process are less clear. We developed an experimental evolution model in which we "replay" over one hundred monoclonal GC reactions, assigning affinities to each cell using deep mutational scanning. Our data reveal how GCs achieve predictable outcomes by means of noisy but persistent selection on an affinity landscape whose exploration is heavily constrained by somatic hypermutation biases. We infer a fitness landscape that quantitatively recapitulates the affinity maturation trajectory of our clone and find that apparent features of GC selection, such as permissiveness to low-affinity lineages and rapid plateauing of affinity, are likely artifacts of survivorship biases that distort our view of how B cell affinity progresses over time.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 42248140 · DOI · PMC13360575
Lymph node colonization induces tissue remodeling via immunosuppressive fibroblast-myeloid cell niches supporting metastatic tolerance [2]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- Lymph node (LN) colonization in cancer is linked to poor prognosis.
- Closing excerpt
- Hence, our findings establish LN colonization as an active driver of systemic immunosuppression, facilitating metastatic progression.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (151 words)
Lymph node (LN) colonization in cancer is linked to poor prognosis. Evidence suggests that LN colonization induces systemic immunosuppression, facilitating distant metastasis. We investigated LN-mediated immunosuppression in patients with head-and-neck cancer using spatial proteomics, spatial transcriptomics, and an in vivo model of melanoma LN metastasis. Both primary tumors and paired LNs of nodal-positive patients exhibit enhanced interferon-γ signaling and an enrichment of immunosuppressive myeloid cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). The spatial intersection of these myeloid-CAF-enriched niches with perifollicular T cell zones and LN follicles is linked to enhanced T cell dysfunction and Treg activation therein, thereby driving architectural LN remodeling. These immune suppressive changes extend to adjacent non-tumor-involved LN regions and nearby tumor-free LNs, but were not detected in LNs of non-cancer patients, reflecting a systemic effect that compromises anti-tumor immunity beyond the tumor-involved LN. Hence, our findings establish LN colonization as an active driver of systemic immunosuppression, facilitating metastatic progression.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 41616773 · DOI · PMC13289805
PD-1 antibody-bound progenitor-exhausted CD8+ T cells in lymph nodes boost PD-1-blockade anti-tumor immunity in gastrointestinal cancer [3]
Abstract reading summary — source excerpts
- Opening excerpt
- While progenitor-exhausted T cells (Tpex) expressing TCF1 and PD-1 are crucial for the therapeutic effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) with therapeutic anti-PD-1 antibodies (aPD-1), the dynamics of ICI-bound Tpex are not fully understood.
- Closing excerpt
- This study thus provides new insights into how ICIs enhance anti-tumor immunity by acting on Tpex in LNs, deepening our understanding of the cellular mechanisms underlying ICI therapy.
- Interpretation limits
- Verbatim excerpts from the authors’ abstract; the closing excerpt may describe a finding, limitation or recommendation. Design, population, effect size and uncertainty have not been independently extracted or appraised. Read the complete abstract and linked paper before interpreting the findings.
Read complete abstract (138 words)
While progenitor-exhausted T cells (Tpex) expressing TCF1 and PD-1 are crucial for the therapeutic effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) with therapeutic anti-PD-1 antibodies (aPD-1), the dynamics of ICI-bound Tpex are not fully understood. In this study, we investigate ICI-bound T cells in detail using combined sequencing analysis at the single-cell level. By analyzing samples from gastrointestinal cancer patients with or without ICI treatment, we find that Tpex are enriched in proximal lymph nodes (LNs) and proliferate at a high rate after ICI treatment. Importantly, aPD-1 high-bound Tpex in LNs share T-cell receptor clonotypes with intratumoral exhausted CD8+ T cells (Tex), suggesting their migration to tumor sites after ICI treatment. This study thus provides new insights into how ICIs enhance anti-tumor immunity by acting on Tpex in LNs, deepening our understanding of the cellular mechanisms underlying ICI therapy.
Abstract reproduced from the open-access article under the recorded cc by licence; © the authors. PMID 41951588 · DOI · PMC13237225
Key reviews and meta-analyses
The most cited review-type papers among PubMed’s best-match results for this heading, listed with bibliographic details only. Follow the links for the full text and access terms.
- Research article Predictors of locoregional recurrence after neoadjuvant chemotherapy: results from combined analysis of National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project B-18 and B-27 [4]
- Research article Sentinel lymph node assessment in endometrial cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis [5]
- Research article Systematic review and meta-analysis of histopathological factors influencing the risk of lymph node metastasis in early colorectal cancer [6]
- Research article Diagnostic accuracy of tests for lymph node status in primary cervical cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis [7]
- Research article The false-negative rate of sentinel node biopsy in patients with breast cancer: a meta-analysis [8]
- Research article A meta-analysis of the randomized controlled trials on elective neck dissection versus therapeutic neck dissection in oral cavity cancers with clinically node-negative neck [9]
References
- DeWitt WS, Vora AA, Araki T, Galloway JG, Alkutkar T, Bortolatto J, et al.. Replaying germinal center evolution on a quantified affinity landscape. . 2026. PMID 42248140 · DOI · PMC13360575
- Haist M, Baertsch MA, Reticker-Flynn NE, Lu G, Kempchen TN, Chu P, et al.. Lymph node colonization induces tissue remodeling via immunosuppressive fibroblast-myeloid cell niches supporting metastatic tolerance. . 2026. PMID 41616773 · DOI · PMC13289805
- Nose Y, Yasumizu Y, Saito T, Nakamura Y, Jinushi K, Fujikawa K, et al.. PD-1 antibody-bound progenitor-exhausted CD8+ T cells in lymph nodes boost PD-1-blockade anti-tumor immunity in gastrointestinal cancer. . 2026. PMID 41951588 · DOI · PMC13237225
- Mamounas EP, Anderson SJ, Dignam JJ, Bear HD, Julian TB, Geyer CE, et al.. Predictors of locoregional recurrence after neoadjuvant chemotherapy: results from combined analysis of National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project B-18 and B-27. J Clin Oncol. 2012. PMID 23032615 · DOI · PMC3488269
- Bodurtha Smith AJ, Fader AN, Tanner EJ. Sentinel lymph node assessment in endometrial cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2017. PMID 27871836 · DOI
- Beaton C, Twine CP, Williams GL, Radcliffe AG. Systematic review and meta-analysis of histopathological factors influencing the risk of lymph node metastasis in early colorectal cancer. Colorectal Dis. 2013. PMID 23331927 · DOI
- Selman TJ, Mann C, Zamora J, Appleyard TL, Khan K. Diagnostic accuracy of tests for lymph node status in primary cervical cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis. CMAJ. 2008. PMID 18362381 · DOI · PMC2267838
- Pesek S, Ashikaga T, Krag LE, Krag D. The false-negative rate of sentinel node biopsy in patients with breast cancer: a meta-analysis. World J Surg. 2012. PMID 22569745 · DOI · PMC3469260
- Fasunla AJ, Greene BH, Timmesfeld N, Wiegand S, Werner JA, Sesterhenn AM. A meta-analysis of the randomized controlled trials on elective neck dissection versus therapeutic neck dissection in oral cavity cancers with clinically node-negative neck. Oral Oncol. 2011. PMID 21459661 · DOI
About this article
- Sources
- NLM Medical Subject Headings (definition, synonyms); NCBI PubMed (counts, identifiers); Europe PMC (open-access abstracts and citation counts).
- Verification
- Every reference was resolved against PubMed on 2026-10-31; title, year and DOI matched.
- Review state
- automated source verified; no human expert review has been recorded yet.
- Version
- 1, last updated 2026-10-31.
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Evidence strength
EvidenceHelix's computed view of the study designs behind this topic: how common meta-analyses, randomized trials and reviews are, how recent the literature is, and a plain-language reading. It describes the design mix of the literature. It is not a quality appraisal of any study, and it is not medical advice.