title: Decreased EBNA-1-specific CD8+ T cells in patients with Epstein-Barr virus-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
abstract: The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) nuclear antigen-1 (EBNA-1) is potentially a universal target for immune recognition of EBV-infected normal or malignant cells. EBNA-1-specific CD8+ T-cell responses have been assessed against a few epitopes presented on a limited number of HLA class I alleles. We now assess CD8+ T-cell responses to a complete panel of EBNA-1 peptides in an HLA-characterized population. We detected EBNA-1-specific CD8+ T cells in 10 of 14 healthy donors by analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells and EBV-specific T-cell lines. The frequent detection of CD8+ T-cell responses was confirmed by mapping EBNA-1 epitopes and demonstrating HLA class I presentation to CD8+ T cells in 6 of 6 donors, including 2 new EBNA-1 epitopes presented by HLA A0206 and A6802. Importantly, EBNA-1-specific CD8+ T cells were significantly less frequent in EBV-specific T-cell lines from patients with EBV-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (3 out of 22, P = 0.0003), whereas the frequency of LMP2-specific responses (14 out of 22) was not significantly different from healthy donors (11 out of 14). EBNA-1-specific CD8+ T-cell responses were rescued in approximately half of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients by peptide and cytokine stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells, suggesting these EBNA-1-specific CD8+ T cells were functionally defective in their response to EBV-infected cells. These results indicate that humans normally mount a significant EBNA-1-specific CD8+ T-cell response to EBV infection, but the immune response to this tumor antigen has been significantly altered in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. Overcoming this defect in EBV-specific immunity may prevent or enhance treatment of EBV-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Fogg
authors.forename: Lori J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Wirth
authors.forename: Marshall
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Posner
authors.forename: Fred
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D000939:Epitopes / Q000276:immunology; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000150:complications / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens / Q000276:immunology*; D006262:Health; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology*; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: C037662:EBV-associated membrane antigen, Epstein-Barr virus; D000939:Epitopes; D019309:Epstein-Barr Virus Nuclear Antigens; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; C417029:EBV-encoded nuclear antigen 1