title: Ex vivo analysis of tumor antigen specific CD8+ T cell responses using MHC/peptide tetramers in cancer patients.
abstract: The development of soluble tetrameric MHC/peptide complexes has opened the possibility to directly identify and monitor antigen-specific CD8+ T cells in different clinical situations. This represents a technological breakthrough for the field of cell-mediated immunity. For example, the direct identification and enumeration of tumor-specific CD8+ T cells at the tumor site and in blood has recently provided compelling evidence that strong anti-tumoral responses naturally occur in some cancer patients. Moreover, the use of tetramers plays an essential role in the design of vaccination protocols aimed at inducing a strong and protective CD8+ T cell-mediated anti-tumoral response in cancer patients. The monitoring of antigen-specific T cell responses elicited by various peptide-based vaccines tested in phase I clinical trials clearly indicates that tumor-specific CD8+ T cells can be activated effectively at least in some cancer patients. Thus, multiparameter monitoring of antigen-specific T cell responses that combines ex vivo tetramer staining with various phenotyping and functional assays provides a novel approach to assess the functional potential of tumor-specific T lymphocytes and may also facilitate the optimization of vaccination protocols.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Onco-Immunology, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne Branch, University Hospital, 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Pittet
authors.forename: D E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Speiser
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Valmori
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rimoldi
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Liénard
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lejeune
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Cerottini
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Romero
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D018995:Myosin Heavy Chains / Q000494:pharmacology*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy; D010455:Peptides / Q000494:pharmacology
chemical_list: D010455:Peptides; D018995:Myosin Heavy Chains