Characterization of Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes Recognizing Autologous Tumor Cells with Plural HLA-class I Alleles in a Patient with Esophageal Cancer

Abstract

T cell sublines and clones were established from the parental HLA-A2601-restricted Cytotoxic T lymphocyte line (KE-4 CTL, HLAA2601/2402, -B5101/40012, -Cw0102/0302) to investigate their capability to recognize tumor antigens on HLA-class I alleles other than HLA-A2601. Thirty-nine of 52 (75%) sublines or 30 of 83 (36%) clones produced interferon (IFN)-. A by recognition of the autologous KE-4 tumor cells. Among these 39 CTL sublines, 22, 22, and 2 sublines produced IFN-γ by recognition of HLA-A2402⁺, -B5101⁺, and Cw0102⁺ allogenic tumor cells, respectively. Four, 8, and 4 of these 30 CTL clones also produced IFN-γ by recognition of HLA-A2402, -B5101⁺, and Cw0102⁺ allogenic tumor cells, respectively . The other 13 sublines or 53 clones failed to produce IFN-γ by recognition of the autologous tumor cells, respectively. These results suggest the presence of CTL recognizing shared tumor antigens on autologous tumor cells expressed by plural HLA-class I alleles in a patient with esophageal SCC.