sCTLA-4 and mCTLA-4 functions in immune homeostasis

CTLA-4 is the immunosuppressive molecule to prevent autoimmune and immunopathological diseases. Both soluble (sCTLA-4) and membrane (mCTLA-4) forms bind to the same ligands (CD80/86) on antigen presenting cells to regulate a quantity of the CD80/86 co-stimulation for T cells. The mCTLA-4 function has been extensively investigated in the field of autoimmunity and cancer immunotherapy. In this study, we characterized the sCTLA-4 function during chronic inflammation, distinguishing it from the function of mCTLA-4 using sCTLA-4-intact mCTLA-4-deficient (S+M-) mice compared with double-deficient mice (S-M-).