Tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes exhibiting high ex vivo cytolytic activity fail to prevent murine melanoma tumor growth in vivo

A Prévost-Blondel, C Zimmermann… - The Journal of …, 1998 - journals.aai.org
A Prévost-Blondel, C Zimmermann, C Stemmer, P Kulmburg, FM Rosenthal, H Pircher
The Journal of Immunology, 1998journals.aai.org
The identification of tumor-associated Ags recognized by CD8+ CTL and prevention of tumor
outgrowth by adoptive transfer of these CTL demonstrates that CD8+ T cells play a major
role in antitumor immunity. We have generated B16. F10 melanoma cells that express the
glycoprotein epitope amino acid 33–41 (GP33) of the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus
(LCMV) to examine antitumor CD8+ T cell response in C57BL/6 mice immune to LCMV and
in mice transgenic for the LCMV GP33-specific P14 TCR (P14 TCR mice). We find that B16 …
Abstract
The identification of tumor-associated Ags recognized by CD8+ CTL and prevention of tumor outgrowth by adoptive transfer of these CTL demonstrates that CD8+ T cells play a major role in antitumor immunity. We have generated B16. F10 melanoma cells that express the glycoprotein epitope amino acid 33–41 (GP33) of the lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) to examine antitumor CD8+ T cell response in C57BL/6 mice immune to LCMV and in mice transgenic for the LCMV GP33-specific P14 TCR (P14 TCR mice). We find that B16. F10 GP33 tumor cells grew in syngeneic C57BL/6 mice without inducing T cell tolerance. LCMV infection or adoptive transfer of LCMV-specific effector T cells delayed but did not prevent growth of preestablished tumors in these mice. However, B16. F10 GP33 tumor cells were rejected in mice immune to LCMV and in mice treated with LCMV-specific effector T cells on the same day as the tumor. Surprisingly, B16. F10 GP33 tumor cells grew in P14 TCR transgenic mice despite an abundance of tumor-associated Ag-specific CD8+ T cells. In these mice, freshly isolated tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes exhibited an activated phenotype and displayed high GP33-specific cytolytic activity when assessed ex vivo. Thus, B16. F10 GP33 melanoma cells are able to initiate, but not to sustain, a GP33-specific CTL response sufficient to clear the tumor enduringly.
journals.aai.org