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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 May 11.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Opin Immunol. 2013 Apr 9;25(3):381–388. doi: 10.1016/j.coi.2013.03.003

Figure 3. PD-1 pathway blockade promotes T cell activation and elimination of infected cells.

Figure 3

During chronic infections, antigen specific T cells are exhausted due to PD-1 inhibitory signals and lack of positive co-stimulation. PD-1 pathway blockade promotes T cell activation by shifting the balance of signals delivered by cognate APCs from suppressive to activating. When rescued T cells recognize antigen in the periphery, in the absence of PD-1 engagement, T cells can assume full effector function and eliminate target cells [35]. Similar mechanisms also occur in cancer patients.