Modulation of T-cell function by gliomas

Patients with primary intracranial tumors (gliomas) exhibit a profound decrease in immunity, the mechanism of which has, until recently, remained obscure. Here Thomas Roszman, Lucinda Elliott and William Brooks reveal that T cells obtained from these patients exhibit defects in interleukin 2 secretion and in expression of the high-affinity IL-2 receptor and they discuss the role played by immunosuppressive factors produced by gliomas in inducing these defects.