Department of New Biology, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu 42988, Korea.
Department of New Biology, Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu 42988; New Biology Research Center (NBRC), Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST), Daegu 42988, Korea.
BMB Rep. 2023 Mar;56(2):140-144. doi: 10.5483/BMBRep.2023-0014.
While CD8 cytotoxic T cells have long been considered the primary effector in controlling tumors, the involvement of CD4 "helper" T cells in anti-tumor immunity has been underappreciated. The investigations of intra-tumoral T cells, fueled by the recent advances in genomic technologies, have led to a rethinking of the indirect role of CD4 T cells that have traditionally been described as a "helper". Accumulating evidence from preclinical and clinical studies indicates that CD4 T cells can acquire intrinsic cytotoxic properties and directly kill various types of tumor cells in a major histocompatibility complex class II (MHC-II)-dependent manner, as opposed to the indirect "helper" function, thus underscoring a potentially critical contribution of CD4 cytotoxic T cells to immune responses against a wide range of tumor types. Here, we discuss the biological properties of anti-tumor CD4 T cells with cytotoxic capability and highlight the emerging observations suggesting their more significant role in anti-tumor immunity than previously appreciated. [BMB Reports 2023; 56(3): 140-144].
虽然 CD8 细胞毒性 T 细胞长期以来被认为是控制肿瘤的主要效应细胞，但 CD4“辅助”T 细胞在抗肿瘤免疫中的作用一直被低估。最近基因组技术的进步推动了对肿瘤内 T 细胞的研究，这促使人们重新思考 CD4 T 细胞的间接作用，传统上 CD4 T 细胞被描述为一种“辅助”细胞。来自临床前和临床研究的大量证据表明，CD4 T 细胞可以获得内在的细胞毒性特性，并以主要组织相容性复合体 II（MHC-II）依赖性方式直接杀死各种类型的肿瘤细胞，而不是间接的“辅助”功能，这突显了 CD4 细胞毒性 T 细胞对针对多种肿瘤类型的免疫反应的潜在关键贡献。在这里，我们讨论了具有细胞毒性的抗肿瘤 CD4 T 细胞的生物学特性，并强调了新的观察结果，表明它们在抗肿瘤免疫中的作用比以前认为的更为重要。[BMB 报告 2023；56(3): 140-144]。
