title: Expansion of melanoma-specific cytolytic CD8+ T cell precursors in patients with metastatic melanoma vaccinated with CD34+ progenitor-derived dendritic cells.
abstract: Cancer vaccines aim at inducing (a) tumor-specific effector T cells able to reduce/eliminate the tumor mass, and (b) long-lasting tumor-specific memory T cells able to control tumor relapse. We have shown earlier, in 18 human histocompatibility leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*0201 patients with metastatic melanoma, that vaccination with peptide-loaded CD34-dendritic cells (DCs) leads to expansion of melanoma-specific interferon gamma-producing CD8+ T cells in the blood. Here, we show in 9 out of 12 analyzed patients the expansion of cytolytic CD8+ T cell precursors specific for melanoma differentiation antigens. These precursors yield, upon single restimulation with melanoma peptide-pulsed DCs, cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) able to kill melanoma cells. Melanoma-specific CTLs can be grown in vitro and can be detected in three assays: (a) melanoma tetramer binding, (b) killing of melanoma peptide-pulsed T2 cells, and (c) killing of HLA-A*0201 melanoma cells. The cytolytic activity of expanded CTLs correlates with the frequency of melanoma tetramer binding CD8+ T cells. Thus, CD34-DC vaccines can expand melanoma-specific CTL precursors that can kill melanoma antigen-expressing targets. These results justify the design of larger follow-up studies to assess the immunological and clinical response to peptide-pulsed CD34-DC vaccines.
authors.affiliation: Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, Dallas, TX 75204, USA.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Paczesny
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Banchereau
authors.forename: Knut M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Wittkowski
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Saracino
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fay
authors.forename: A Karolina
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Palucka
mesh_terms: D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000032:analysis*; D019496:Cancer Vaccines / Q000276:immunology*; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006412:Hematopoietic Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology / Q000556:secondary / Q000628:therapy*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014611:Vaccination
chemical_list: D018952:Antigens, CD34; D019496:Cancer Vaccines