Figure 4.

T-cell dysfunction in cancer. T-cell dysfunction has been described as a hyporesponsive response of various suppressive signals occurring in the TME. This acquisition of the dysfunctional state is driven by multifaceted immunoregulatory pathways in the TME. Based on the phenotypical, transcriptional, and functional analyses of T cells taken from patients with cancers, researchers have shown that these cells exhibit a particular gene expression profile that is different from those of naive, effector, or memory T cells.