Therapeutic opportunities in the B7/CD28 family of ligands and receptors

The CD28 and B7 protein families are critical regulators of immune responses and, in the past few years, several new family members have been identified. Preclinical studies exploring the role of members of the CD28 and B7 families support the targeting of these pathways for new therapeutic approaches. Indeed, recent Phase I clinical studies using agonists and antagonists of the CD28/CTLA-4/B7 pathway have shown promise in inflammatory diseases and cancer.