Complementing T-cell Function: An Inhibitory Role of the Complement System in T-cell-Mediated Antitumor Immunity.

New data from Wang and colleagues show that complement C3 suppresses the function of CD8(+) tumor-infiltrating T cells by inhibiting IL10 production, and targeting the complement receptors C3aR and C5aR enhances the antitumor activity of immune checkpoint blockade. Their results not only define a new role of complement receptors as T-cell coinhibitory receptors, but also are useful in the development of novel strategies to improve the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy. Cancer Discov; 6(9); 953-5. ©2016 AACR.See related article by Wang et al., p. 1022. ©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.