• Norihiko Watanabe, Maya Gavrieli, John R Sedy, Jianfei Yang, Francesca Fallarino, Susan K Loftin, Michelle A Hurchla, Natalie Zimmerman, Julia Sim, Xingxing Zang, Theresa L Murphy, John H Russell, James P Allison, and Kenneth M Murphy.
• Department of Pathology & Immunology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Washington University School of Medicine, Box 8118, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
• Nat. Immunol. 2003 Jul 1; 4 (7): 670-9.

AbstractDuring activation, T cells express receptors for receiving positive and negative costimulatory signals. Here we identify the B and T lymphocyte attenuator (BTLA), an immunoglobulin domain-containing glycoprotein with two immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motifs. BTLA is not expressed by naive T cells, but it is induced during activation and remains expressed on T helper type 1 (T(H)1) but not T(H)2 cells. Crosslinking BTLA with antigen receptors induces its tyrosine phosphorylation and association with the Src homology domain 2 (SH2)-containing protein tyrosine phosphatases SHP-1 and SHP-2, and attenuates production of interleukin 2 (IL-2). BTLA-deficient T cells show increased proliferation, and BTLA-deficient mice have increased specific antibody responses and enhanced sensitivity to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. B7x, a peripheral homolog of B7, is a ligand of BTLA. Thus, BTLA is a third inhibitory receptor on T lymphocytes with similarities to cytotoxic T lymphocyte-associated antigen 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed death 1 (PD-1).

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