CTLA-4 was first identified in 1991 as a second receptor for the T cell costimulation ligand B7. In November 1995, the labs of Tak Wah Mak and Arlene H. Sharpe independently published their findings on the discovery of the function of CTLA-4 as a negative regulator of T-cell activation, by knocking out the gene in mice. Previous studies from several labs had used methods which could not definitively define the function of CTLA-4, and were contradictory.
