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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Jun 1.
Published in final edited form as: Cancer Immunol Res. 2019 Jun;7(6):854–859. doi: 10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-18-0912

Figure 1: Thymic Aire restricts antitumor immunity.

Figure 1:

A) Within thymic mTECs, Aire drives the expression of antigens (Ag) shared between tumors and normal (self) tissues. These antigens are then presented by mTECs, or dendritic cells (DCs) by antigen transfer, to developing thymocytes in the thymus. Recognition of self/tumor antigens by thymocytes results in 2 potential fates: clonal deletion (red “X”) of conventional T cells capable of tumor eradication or diversion into the immunosuppressive Treg lineage, reducing antitumor immunity. TCR: T-cell receptor; MHC: major histocompatibility complex. B) Decreased Aire expression predisposes to autoimmunity but also enhances antitumor immunity, whereas increased Aire expression prevents autoimmunity but restricts antitumor immunity.