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EMBO reports 8, 11, 1024–1030 (2007)
doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7401090
Non-classical major histocompatibility complex proteins as determinants of tumour immunosurveillance
Anita Q. Gomes1, Daniel V. Correia1 & Bruno Silva-Santos1, 2
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1 Instituto de Medicina Molecular, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Egas Moniz, 1649-028 Lisbon, Portugal
2 Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência, Rua da Quinta Grande 6, 2781-901 Oeiras, Portugal
To whom correspondence should be addressed
Bruno Silva-Santos Tel: +35 121 799 9469; Fax: +35 121 798 5142;
bssantos@fm.ul.pt
Received 30 January 2007; Accepted 13 September 2007.
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Abstract
Tumours develop in vertebrate organisms endowed with immune systems that are potentially able to eradicate them. Nevertheless, our ever-increasing understanding of the complex interactions between lymphocytes and tumour cells fuels the long-standing hope of developing efficient immunotherapies against cancer. This review focuses on a versatile family of proteins, the major histocompatibility complex class Ib, which has been recently implicated in both the establishment of anti-tumour immune responses and in tumour immune response evasion. We focus on a subset of class Ib proteins, human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-G, Qa-2, CD1d and NKG2D ligands, which bind to either stimulatory or inhibitory receptors expressed on T, natural killer (NK) and NKT lymphocytes, and thereby modulate their anti-tumour activity.
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