{"entity":{"id":"paper-johnston-nature","kind":"paper","name":"VISTA is an acidic pH-selective ligand for PSGL-1","aka":[],"tldr":"Paper cited by one target page, indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 31645726 and published in Nature; the citing page links this DOI, which is how the record was matched.","summary":"Co-inhibitory immune receptors can contribute to T cell dysfunction in patients with cancer 1,2. Blocking antibodies against cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) and programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) partially reverse this effect and are becoming standard of care in an increasing number of malignancies 3. However, many of the other axes by which tumours become inhospitable to T cells are not fully understood. Here we report that V-domain immunoglobulin suppressor of T cell activation (VISTA) engages and suppresses T cells selectively at acidic pH such as that found in tumour microenvironments. Multiple histidine residues along the rim of the VISTA extracellular domain mediate binding to the adhesion and co-inhibitory receptor P-selectin glycoprotein ligand-1 (PSGL-1). Antibodies engineered to selectively bind and block this interaction in acidic environments were sufficient to reverse VISTA-mediated immune suppression in vivo. These findings identify a mechanism by which VISTA may engender resistance to anti-tumour immune responses, as well as an unexpectedly determinative role for pH in immune co-receptor engagement.\n\nIndexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 31645726 (DOI 10.1038/s41586-019-1674-5). Matched by DOI alone: one target page cites this DOI among its external links (the pages are listed under Related), and this page was written so that the citation resolves inside OnCo. No figure has been checked by an editor.","asOf":"2026-09-22","links":[{"label":"Nature 2019","url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1674-5"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31645726/"},{"label":"Europe PMC","url":"https://europepmc.org/article/MED/31645726"}],"tags":["europepmc-ingest"],"related":["vista"],"cancers":[],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["nature"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Nature","year":2019,"doi":"10.1038/s41586-019-1674-5","pmid":"31645726","authors":"Johnston RJ, Su LJ, Pinckney J, et al.","paperType":"basic","findings":[],"whatItMeans":"One target page on OnCo cites this paper by its DOI; this record gives the citation a page of its own so a reader can follow it without leaving OnCo. Read the abstract above alongside the citing page listed under Related; the record was created automatically from the Europe PMC entry and its figures have not been checked by hand.","caveats":["Matched to the citing OnCo records by DOI alone; the summary reproduces the Europe PMC abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper."]},"route":"/key-papers/paper-johnston-nature/","neighbours":{"target":[{"id":"vista","kind":"target","name":"VISTA","route":"/targets/vista/"}],"journal":[{"id":"nature","kind":"journal","name":"Nature","route":"/journals/nature/"}]}}