Manipulation of Costimulatory Signals to Enhance Antitumor T-cell Responses

One of the major goals of tumor immunotherapy is the induction of tumor-specific T-cell responses that will be effective in eradicating disseminated tumors. Emerging information on the role of costimulatory molecules in T-cell activation offers several new strategies for enhancing antitumor responses, including the induction of expression of costimulatory molecules on tumor cells, enhancement of the presentation of transferred tumor antigen by host antigen-presenting cells, and ex vivo antigen priming of autologous antigen-presenting cells.