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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Mar 5.
Published in final edited form as: Nat Rev Immunol. 2021 Jun 21;22(3):158–172. doi: 10.1038/s41577-021-00566-3

Fig. 1 |. Classical IFNγ producers in the tumour microenvironment.

Fig. 1 |

The spatial pattern of interferon-γ (IFNγ) release by T helper 1 (TH1) cells, cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and natural killer (NK) cells. TH1 cells release IFNγ, interleukin-2 (IL-2), granulocyte–monocyte colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and lymphotoxin-α (LTα) in a concentrated manner within the antigen-presenting cell (APC)–TH1 cell synapse (synaptic release). Tumour necrosis factor (TNF) is released in many directions, both towards and away from the synapse (multidirectional release). CTLs release IFNγ towards the synapse but the release is not well directed, allowing IFNγ to exert effects on cells beyond, but near, the synapse (leaky synaptic release). The release of TNF and perforin is synaptic. NK cells release IFNγ in a multidirectional manner.