T cell exhaustion: from pathophysiological basics to tumor immunotherapy. Issue 1 (December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Catakovic, Kemal; Klieser, Eckhard; Neureiter, Daniel; Geisberger, Roland
• Is Part Of: Cell communication and signaling. Volume 15:Issue 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 16
• Publication Date: 2017-12
• Subjects: Immunotherapy -- PD-1 -- PD-L1 -- T cell exhaustion -- Cancer; Cell interaction -- Periodicals; 571.6
• DOI: 10.1186/s12964-016-0160-z
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1478-811X

Abstract

Abstract The immune system is capable of distinguishing between danger- and non-danger signals, thus inducing either an appropriate immune response against pathogens and cancer or inducing self-tolerance to avoid autoimmunity and immunopathology. One of the mechanisms that have evolved to prevent destruction by the immune system, is to functionally silence effector T cells, termed T cell exhaustion, which is also exploited by viruses and cancers for immune escape In this review, we discuss some of the phenotypic markers associated with T cell exhaustion and we summarize current strategies to reinvigorate exhausted T cells by blocking these surface marker using monoclonal antibodies.