Background
B7-H3 is a member of the B7 family of immune regulatory ligands that is thought to attenuate peripheral immune responses through co-inhibition. It plays an important role in adaptive immune responses, and was shown to either promote or inhibit T-cell responses in various experimental systems. B7-H3 may play an important role in muscle-immune interactions, providing further evidence of the active role of muscle cells in local immunoregulatory processes. B7-H3 is a novel protein structurally related to the B7 family of ligands by the presence of a single set of immunoglobulin-V-like and immunoglobulin-C-like (VC) domains. Previous studies have correlated its overexpression with poor prognosis and decreased tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in various carcinomas including uterine endometrioid carcinomas, and mounting evidence supports an immuno-inhibitory role in ovarian cancer prognosis. Recently, B7-H3 expression has been reported in several human cancers indicating an additional function of B7-H3 as a regulator of antitumor immunity.
Message submitted successfully !