title: T cell-receptor V gene use by CD4+ melanoma-reactive clonal and oligoclonal T-cell lines.
abstract: Tumor-reactive CD4+ T cells can be isolated and expanded from the peripheral blood and tumor lesions of patients with melanoma. In contrast to CD8+ T cells, little is known about the antigens recognized by these CD4+ T cells. As a consequence, little is known about the diversity of the T-cell receptor (TcR) use by melanoma-reactive CD4+ T cells. To address these questions, a panel of clonal or highly oligoclonal CD4+ T-cell lines was established from a patient with metastatic melanoma. A CD4+ tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) line was established that was highly oligoclonal and recognized only autologous melanoma cells but not allogeneic melanomas, suggesting the expression of a mutated or uniquely expressed antigen by this melanoma. The antigen recognized by the CD4+ TILs could be presented by intact melanoma cells or by autologous Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) B cells pulsed with melanoma cell lysates. A panel of CD4+ clonal and highly oligoclonal T-cell lines was isolated form peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from this patient; these were also reactive with autologous melanoma cells or tumor extracts pulsed on autologous EBV B cells. Despite their reactivity with the autologous melanoma, we found no evidence of restricted TcR V gene use, because all six T-cell lines recognized antigen via different TcR alpha/beta rearrangements. Furthermore, there were no conserved amino acids in the CDR3 regions of these TcRs, indicating that multiple TcR clonotypes could mediate recognition of a single unique major histocompatibility (MHC) complex class II restricted melanoma antigen or that multiple MHC class II restricted melanoma antigens are expressed by the melanoma.
authors.affiliation: Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Custer
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Schwarz
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Parker
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mixon
authors.forename: T M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Clay
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Yannelli
authors.forename: S A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Rosenberg
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D019556:COS Cells; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000737:chemistry; D019672:Genes, T-Cell Receptor / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016246:Lymphocytes, Tumor-Infiltrating / Q000276:immunology*; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012313:RNA / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D017931:DNA Primers; D016693:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta; D012313:RNA