These results demonstrate that TGFβ in the tumor microenvironment reduces tumor-reactive IFN-γ-expressing CD8+ cells and tumor-infiltrating central memory T cells, and that a-CTLA4-TGFβRII is required to effectively counteract these effects by rendering the targeted T cells incapable of responding to autocrine/paracrine TGFβ signals in their immediate milieu. This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and neoplasm.