Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2023 Mar;4(3):317-329.
doi: 10.1038/s43018-023-00521-2. Epub 2023 Mar 9.

CD4+ T cells in cancer

Daniel E Speiser  1 , Obinna Chijioke  2   3 , Karin Schaeuble  4 , Christian Münz  5
Affiliations
Review

CD4+ T cells in cancer

Daniel E Speiser et al. Nat Cancer. 2023 Mar.

Abstract

Cancer immunology and immunotherapy are driving forces of research and development in oncology, mostly focusing on CD8+ T cells and the tumor microenvironment. Recent progress highlights the importance of CD4+ T cells, corresponding to the long-known fact that CD4+ T cells are central players and coordinators of innate and antigen-specific immune responses. Moreover, they have now been recognized as anti-tumor effector cells in their own right. Here we review the current status of CD4+ T cells in cancer, which hold great promise for improving knowledge and therapies in cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Ruterbusch, M., Pruner, K. B., Shehata, L. & Pepper, M. In vivo CD4+ T cell differentiation and function: revisiting the TH1/TH2 paradigm. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 38, 705–725 (2020). - PubMed - DOI
    1. Kiner, E. et al. Gut CD4+ T cell phenotypes are a continuum molded by microbes, not by TH archetypes. Nat. Immunol. 22, 216–228 (2021). - PubMed - PMC - DOI
    1. Zhou, L., Chong, M. M. & Littman, D. R. Plasticity of CD4+ T cell lineage differentiation. Immunity 30, 646–655 (2009). - PubMed - DOI
    1. Greenberg, P. D., Cheever, M. A. & Fefer, A. Eradication of disseminated murine leukemia by chemoimmunotherapy with cyclophosphamide and adoptively transferred immune syngeneic Lyt-1+2− lymphocytes. J. Exp. Med. 154, 952–963 (1981). - PubMed - DOI
    1. Bos, R. & Sherman, L. A. CD4+ T-cell help in the tumor milieu is required for recruitment and cytolytic function of CD8+ T lymphocytes. Cancer Res. 70, 8368–8377 (2010). - PubMed - PMC - DOI

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources