Abstract: Immune checkpoints refer to a wide range of inhibitory pathways that are critical for maintaining self-tolerance and modulating the immune response. High expression of immune checkpoints leads to T cells exhaustion, and blockade them restores effector functions of T cells. Therefore, the immune checkpoint inhibitors have been widely used in the targeted therapy of tumors, but their roles in infectious diseases are controversial. In this review, we discuss the mechanisms and clinical applications of different kinds of immune checkpoints in chronic infections.

Key words: immune checkpoints, immune checkpoints inhibitors, infectious diseases