title: Monitoring of WT1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
abstract: Donor-derived cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) that respond to tumor antigens emerge after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), particularly in association with the status of immune recovery. To analyze the frequency of CTL against PR1, PRAME and WT1 after HSCT, a tetramer-based analysis was performed in 97 samples taken from 35 patients (9 AML, 11 MDS, 2 CML, 4 ALL, 7 lymphoma and 2 renal cell carcinoma [RCC]) with the HLA-A02 phenotype. Regarding PR1, only 1 sample showed the presence of tetramer-positive cells (0.04%/lymphocyte). Similarly, in PRAME, only 10 of 97 samples were sporadically positive with low titers. For WT1, positive results were detected in 39 of 97 samples and 7 (2 CML, 1 ALL, 2 lymphoma and 2 RCC) patients clearly showed positive results more than once. On the basis of these results, we performed serial analyses of WT1-specific CTL during the clinical course in 2 patients with RCC, who underwent HSCT with a reduced-intensity regimen, to examine the precise correlation between the kinetics of CTL, the occurrence of GVHD and the observed clinical response. A higher positive rate for WT1-specific CTL and a correlation with the clinical response suggest that WT1 may be a useful antigen for a wider monitoring application.
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, National Cancer Center Hospital, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuriko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Heike
authors.forename: Mami
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kawakami
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: Shin-Ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nakatsuka
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ebisawa
authors.forename: Shin-Ichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Ryuji
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tanosaki
authors.forename: Takahiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fukuda
authors.forename: Sung-Won
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kensei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tobinai
authors.forename: Yoichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Takaue
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002292:Carcinoma, Renal Cell / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006086:Graft vs Host Disease; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000276:immunology; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D007680:Kidney Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology; D007938:Leukemia / Q000276:immunology*; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000276:immunology*; D008297:Male; D010641:Phenotype; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous; D025721:WT1 Proteins / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D025721:WT1 Proteins