Analysis and characterization of antitumor T-cell response after administration of dendritic cells loaded with allogeneic tumor lysate to metastatic melanoma patients

Abstract

The primary goal of cancer vaccines is to induce CD8 T cells specific for tumor-associated antigens (TAA) but the characterization of these cells has been difficult because of the low sensitivity of ex vivo assays. Here, we focused on TAA-specific CD8 T-cell responses in melanoma patients after vaccination with autologous dendritic cells loaded with lysates derived from allogeneic tumor-cell lines (Lysate-DC). Out of 40 patients treated, 16 patients developed immune response to tumor-cell lysate and/or CD8 T cells specific for differentiation and cancer-testis antigens. TAA-specific CD8 T-cell responses were detected by interferon (IFN)-γ enzyme-linked immunospot after in vitro sensitization..