title: Stimulation by means of dendritic cells followed by Epstein-Barr virus-transformed B cells as antigen-presenting cells is more efficient than dendritic cells alone in inducing Aspergillus f16-specific cytotoxic T cell responses.
abstract: Adoptive immunotherapy with in vitro expanded antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) may be an effective approach to prevent, or even treat, Aspergillus (Asp) infections. Such lines can be generated using monocyte-derived dendritic cells (DC) as antigen-presenting cells (APC) but requires a relatively high volume of starting blood. Here we describe a method that generates Asp-specific CTL responses more efficiently using a protocol of antigen presented on DC followed by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed B lymphoblastoid cell lines (BLCL) as APC. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated weekly (2-5x) with a complete pool of pentadecapeptides (PPC) spanning the coding region of Asp f16 pulsed onto autologous mature DC. Cultures were split and stimulated subsequently with either PPC-DC or autologous PPC-pulsed BLCL (PPC-BLCL). Lines from the DC/BLCL arm demonstrated Asp f16-specific cytotoxicity earlier and to a higher degree than lines generated with PPC-DC alone. The DC/BLCL-primed lines showed a higher frequency of Asp f16-specific interferon (IFN)-gamma producing cells but an identical effector cell phenotype and peptide specificity compared to PPC-DC-only-primed lines. Tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, but not IL-10, appeared to play a role in the effectiveness of BLCL as APC. These results demonstrate that BLCL serve as highly effective APC for the stimulation of Asp f16-specific T cell responses and that a culture approach using initial priming with PPC-DC followed by PPC-BLCL may be a more effective method to generate Asp f16-specific T cell lines and requires less starting blood than priming with PPC-DC alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI 53226, USA.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ramadan
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Davies
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Margolis
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Keever-Taylor
mesh_terms: D000485:Allergens / Q000276:immunology*; D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000276:immunology*; D000938:Antigen-Presenting Cells / Q000276:immunology; D000946:Antigens, Fungal / Q000276:immunology; D052179:Antigens, Plant; D001230:Aspergillus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003602:Cytotoxicity, Immunologic; D003713:Dendritic Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human; D006801:Humans; D025301:Hyphae / Q000254:growth & development / Q000276:immunology; D016130:Immunophenotyping; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000096:biosynthesis; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000276:immunology; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000276:immunology*; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D000485:Allergens; D000946:Antigens, Fungal; D052179:Antigens, Plant; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; C438315:allergen Asp f 16; D016753:Interleukin-10; D007371:Interferon-gamma