The Mechanism of Anti-CTLA-4 Activity and the Negative Regulation of T-Cell Activation

The survival rate of patients diagnosed with late-stage melanoma is poor--only 5%-10%. Enlisting the immune system in the fight against cancers such as melanoma could help improve the prognosis of these patients. Data have shown that melanocyte proteins make good targets for immune system-based therapy in this disease. However, self-tolerance, which develops to inhibit autoimmune attack, makes this strategy difficult. Two proteins on the surface...