BioCentury
ARTICLE | Translation in Brief

Reviving NK cells

How targeting TIGIT unleashes the cancer-fighting activity of NK cells

July 12, 2018 3:40 PM UTC

Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China have identified a key role for TIGIT in NK cell exhaustion that suggests immunotherapies targeting TIGIT may be useful against cancers that have failed to respond to current checkpoint inhibitors.

T cell immunoreceptors with Ig and ITIM domains (TIGIT) is a co-inhibitory checkpoint receptor and an emerging target for immunotherapies designed to overcome tumor-induced immune suppression of T cells. Blocking TIGIT, especially when combined with other checkpoint inhibitors, reverses cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) exhaustion and impairs tumor growth. ...