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Updated: Aug 20, 2026

Use of Single Chain MHC Technology to Investigate Co-agonism in Human CD8+ T Cell Activation
Published on: February 28, 2019
Immunotherapy with CTL restricted by nonself MHC
Liquan Gao1, Anne-Marie Downs, Hans J Stauss
1Tumour Immunology Section, Department of Immunology, Division of Medicine, Impertial College London, London, UK.
In the past years a number of target antigens recognized by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) have been identified in human malignancies. In most cases, the CTL-recognized antigens did not arise from mutations, but were instead encoded by genes that were identical in normal and tumor cells. Gene expression in normal tissues may result in tolerance of high avidity CTL, leaving behind low avidity CTL that cannot provide effective immunity against tumors expressing the relevant target antigens. In this chapter we describe a strategy to circumvent immunological tolerance that can be used to generate high avidity CTL against self-proteins, including human tumor-associated antigens.
In the past years a number of target antigens recognized by cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL) have been identified in human malignancies. In most cases, the CTL-recognized antigens did not arise from mutations, but were instead encoded by genes that were identical in normal and tumor cells. Gene expression in normal tissues may result in tolerance of high avidity CTL, leaving behind low avidity CTL that cannot provide effective immunity against tumors expressing the relevant target antigens. In this chapter we describe a strategy to circumvent immunological tolerance that can be used to generate high avidity CTL against self-proteins, including human tumor-associated antigens.
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