Enhancement of antitumor immunity by CTLA-4 blockade

One reason for the poor immunogenicity of many tumors may be that they cannot provide signals for CD28-mediated costimulation necessary to fully activate T cells. it has recently become apparent that CTLA-4, a second counterreceptor for the B7 family of costimulatory molecules, is a negative regulator of T cell activation. Here, in vivo administration of antibodies t6 CTLA-4 resulted in the rejection of tumors, including preestablished tumors. Furthermore, this rejection resulted in immunity to a secondary exposure to tumor cells. These results suggest that, blockade of the inhibitory effects of CTLA-4 can allow for, and potentiate, effective immune responses against tumor cells.
Despite expressing antigens recognizable by a host's immune system, tumors are very poor in initiating effective immune responses. One reason for this poor immunogenicity may be that the presentation of [...]