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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Transl Res. 2015 Jun 11;166(5):412–424. doi: 10.1016/j.trsl.2015.06.005

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Schematic diagram showing the generation of effector T cells and the killing of the tumor cell. Normally, naïve T cell differentiate into effector T cells in response to IL-2. Also, antigen is presented to naïve T cells by antigen presenting cell (APC) via MHCII and T cell receptor and this process is enhanced by the interaction of co-stimulatory molecules whereby CD28 molecule on T cells interacts with B7.1 (CD80) and B7.2 (CD86) on APCs, resulting into the generation of effector T cells to kill tumor cells. However, CTLA-4 binds with B7.1/B7.2 with greater affinity than CD28 and thus inhibits the differentiation of naïve T cells into effector T cells. Blocking CTLA-4 with anti-CTLA-4 antibody will allow CD28 to interact with B7.1/B7.2 to generate effector T cells and promote killing of tumor cells.