During pregnancy, tryptophan degradation in the placenta protects a growing fetus from attack by T cells. Tumor cells are now shown to exploit this unusual system to prevent rejection by tumor-specific cytotoxic T cells (pages 1269–1274).
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Schepers, K., Schumacher, T. Tumors hijack fetal enzyme, escape killer T cells. Nat Med 9, 1253–1254 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1003-1253
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1003-1253