Progress in Research on Cytotoxic T Lymphocyte-Associated Antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and Bladder Cancer

Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein-4 (CTLA-4) was first discovered in 1987 and confirmed to be a protein that is mainly expressed on the surface of activated lymphocytes. CTLA-4 is expressed on the surface of T cells and binds to B7 expressed on antigen presenting cells(APCs) to potentially play a role in inhibiting lymphocyte proliferation. Inhibitors of CTLA-4 were developed to promote the anti-tumor effects of T cells and inhibit tumor growth. CTLA-4, as an immune checkpoint, has been realized as an important therapeutic target in bladder cancer. Two main CTLA-4 inhibitors are currently used: ipilimumab is a first-generation IgG1 monoclonal antibody that targets CTLA-4, and it is completely synthetic; tremelimumab, representing another class of CTLA-4 inhibitors, is a monoclonal antibody against CTLA-4 that acts similarly to ipilimumab and binds specifically to CTLA-4. The two types of CTLA-4 inhibitors were found to improve the treatment effect in patients with bladder cancer in comparison to conventional agents. To review this topic, we searched recently published related articles.