Reducing Treg function in cancer patients should augment antitumor immune responses. We recently uncovered a mechanism of immunosuppression by human Tregs that implies transmembrane protein GARP and production of active TGF-ß1. We obtained monoclonal antibodies that block this process and could thus serve as a novel approach for cancer immunotherapy.
Lienart, S., Stockis, J., Dedobbeleer, O., & Lucas, S. (2016). Targeting immunosuppression by Tregs with monoclonal antibodies against GARP. OncoImmunology, 5(3), e1074379. https://doi.org/10.1080/2162402X.2015.1074379 (Original work published 2016)