Evidence for an additional ligand, distinct from B7, for the CTLA-4 receptor

Activation of T lymphocytes requires the recognition of peptide-major histocompatibility complex complexes and costimulatory signals provided by antigen-presenting cells (APCs). The best-characterized costimulatory molecule to date is the B7 antigen, a member of the immunoglobulin family that binds two receptors, CD28 and CTLA-4, expressed on the T-cell surface. Using the anti-mouse B7 (mB7) monoclonal antibody (mAb) 16-10A1, which we recently developed, we found that mB7 is indeed an important costimulatory ligand for the antigen-specific activation of murine T cells by B lymphocytes. Three lines of evidence suggest, however, the existence of at least one additional ligand for the CTLA-4 receptor. First, a soluble fusion protein of human CTLA-4 and the IgG1 Fc region, termed CTLA4Ig, blocks better than the anti-mB7 mAb the allogeneic stimulation of T cells by unfractionated splenic APCs. Second, saturating amounts of anti-mB7 mAb do not significantly block binding of fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated CTLA4Ig to activated splenic APCs. Furthermore, CTLA4Ig but not the anti-mB7 mAb reacts with the M12 and M12.C3 cell lines. The identification of an additional ligand for CTLA-4 may have applications to the treatment of autoimmune disease and transplant-associated disorders.