In Vivo Persistence of Codominant Human CD8+ T Cell Clonotypes Is Not Limited by Replicative Senescence or Functional Alteration.
T cell responses to viral epitopes are often composed of a small number of codominant clonotypes. In this study, we show that tumor Ag-specific T cells can behave similarly. In a melanoma patient with a long lasting HLA-A2/NY-ESO-1-specific T cell response, reaching 10% of circulating CD8 T cells, we identified nine codominant clonotypes characterized by individual TCRs. These clonotypes made up almost the entire pool of highly differentiated effector cells, but only a fraction of the small pool of less differentiated "memory" cells, suggesting that the latter serve to maintain effector cells. The different clonotypes displayed full effector function and expressed TCRs with similar functional avidity. Nevertheless, some clonotypes increased, whereas others declined in numbers over the observation period of 6 years. One clonotype disappeared from circulating blood, but without preceding critical telomere shortening. In turn, clonotypes with increasing frequency had accelerated telomere shortening, correlating with strong in vivo proliferation. Interestingly, the final prevalence of the different T cell clonotypes in circulation was anticipated in a metastatic lymph node withdrawn 2 years earlier, suggesting in vivo clonotype selection driven by metastases. Together, these data provide novel insight in long term in vivo persistence of T cell clonotypes associated with continued cell turnover but not replicative senescence or functional alteration.
Division of Clinical Onco-Immunology, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, University Hospital of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Laurent
L
Derré
Marc
M
Bruyninx
Petra
P
Baumgaertner
Estelle
E
Devevre
Patricia
P
Corthesy
Cédric
C
Touvrey
Yolanda D
YD
Mahnke
Hanspeter
H
Pircher
Verena
V
Voelter
Pedro
P
Romero
Daniel E
DE
Speiser
Nathalie
N
Rufer
D000123:Acetyltransferases / Q000276:immunology*; D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm / Q000276:immunology*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000276:immunology*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D016922:Cellular Senescence / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008545:Melanoma / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology*; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000276:immunology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D016615:Telomere / Q000276:immunology; D013997:Time Factors; D014780:Viruses / Q000276:immunology
D000951:Antigens, Neoplasm; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D015789:HLA-A2 Antigen; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D010455:Peptides; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell; D000123:Acetyltransferases; C479413:ESCO1 protein, human