Nature Communications (Sep 2021)

Cytotoxic T cells are able to efficiently eliminate cancer cells by additive cytotoxicity

  • Bettina Weigelin,
  • Annemieke Th. den Boer,
  • Esther Wagena,
  • Kelly Broen,
  • Harry Dolstra,
  • Rob J. de Boer,
  • Carl G. Figdor,
  • Johannes Textor,
  • Peter Friedl

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25282-3
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12, no. 1
pp. 1 – 12

Abstract

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Cytotoxic CD8+ T lymphocytes (CTL) often fail to kill tumour cells in one-to-one interactions. Here the authors show that these sublethal interactions from multiple CTL can add up over time and achieve tumour cell killing by additive cytotoxicity.