Not so Fas: Re-evaluating the mechanisms of immune privilege and tumor escape
Nicholas P. Restifo
National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA
restifo@nih.gov
Based on early studies, it was hypothesized that expression of Fas ligand (FasL) by tumor cells enabled them to counterattack the immune system, and that transplant rejection could be prevented by expressing FasL on transplanted organs. More recent studies have indicated that the notion of FasL as a mediator of immune privilege needed to be reconsidered, and taught a valuable lesson about making broad conclusions based on small amounts of data.
