Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Cancer immunology

An adrenaline kick to exhaust T cells

Nature Immunology volume 24, pages 1792–1793 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

For decades, beta-blockers have been used widely to treat cardiovascular diseases. Surprisingly, new data show how these inhibitors can also improve immunotherapy against tumors and chronic infections.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: β-adrenergic signaling drives terminal differentiation and exhaustion of T cells.

References

  1. Zehn, D., Thimme, R., Lugli, E., de Almeida, G. P. & Oxenius, A. Nat. Immunol. 23, 836–847 (2022).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Utzschneider, D. T. et al. J. Exp. Med. 213, 1819–1834 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. McLane, L. M., Abdel-Hakeem, M. S. & Wherry, E. J. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 37, 457–495 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Globig, A. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06568-6 (2023).

  5. Alfei, F. et al. Nature 571, 265–269 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Khan, O. et al. Nature 571, 211–218 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Scott, A. C. et al. Nature 571, 270–274 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Yao, C. et al. Nat. Immunol. 20, 890–901 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  9. Skaper, S. D. Immunology 151, 1–15 (2017).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Wu, V. H. et al. Nat. Immunol. 24, 1318–1330 (2023).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Nissen, M. D., Sloan, E. K. & Mattarollo, S. R. Cancer Immunol. Res. 6, 98–109 (2018).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Estrada, L. D., Agac, D. & Farrar, J. D. Eur. J. Immunol. 46, 1948–1958 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Infection Prevention (Zentrum für Infektionsprävention, ZIP), Division of Animal Physiology and Immunology, School of Life Sciences Weihenstephan, Technical University of Munich, Freising, Germany

    Jacqueline Berner & Dietmar Zehn

Authors
  1. Jacqueline Berner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dietmar Zehn
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dietmar Zehn.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Berner, J., Zehn, D. An adrenaline kick to exhaust T cells. Nat Immunol 24, 1792–1793 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-023-01650-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41590-023-01650-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing