1. Spontaneous high clonal expansion of Wilms' tumor gene 1-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocytes in patients with Wilms' tumor gene 1-expressing solid tumor.
- Author
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Morimoto S, Tanaka Y, Nakata J, Fujiki F, Hasegawa K, Nakajima H, Nishida S, Tsuboi A, Hosen N, Kagawa N, Maruno M, Myoui A, Enomoto T, Izumoto S, Sekimoto M, Hashimoto N, Yoshimine T, Kumanogoh A, Oji Y, Oka Y, and Sugiyama H
- Subjects
- Humans, Male, Female, Middle Aged, Adult, Aged, Neoplasms immunology, Neoplasms genetics, HLA-A2 Antigen immunology, HLA-A2 Antigen genetics, Wilms Tumor immunology, Wilms Tumor genetics, T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic immunology, WT1 Proteins immunology, WT1 Proteins genetics
- Abstract
Wilms' tumor protein 1 (WT1)-targeted immunotherapy has been used in patients with leukemia and solid tumors. However, the spontaneous WT1-specific immune response before WT1 peptide vaccination in patients with WT1-expressing tumors (PTs) remains unclear. Therefore, we investigated whether WT1-specific cytotoxic CD8
+ T-lymphocytes (CTLs) are clonally expanded in the peripheral blood outside of tumor sites. Clonal expansion of WT1126 peptide (a.a.126-134)-specific CTLs (WT1126 -CTLs) was compared between seven PTs and five healthy volunteers (HVs), and their T-cell receptors (TCRs) were analyzed at the single-cell level. Overall, 433 and 351 TCR β-chains of WT1126 -CTLs were detected from PTs and HVs, respectively, and complementarity-determining region 3 was sequenced for clonality analysis. The frequencies of WT1126 -CTLs were higher in human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-A*02:01+ PTs than in HLA-A*02:01+ HVs, although the difference was not statistically significant. WT1126 -CTLs of differentiated types, including memory and effector, were higher in PTs than in HVs; whereas, those of the naïve type were higher in HVs than in PTs. WT1126 -CTL clonality was significantly higher in PTs than in HVs. Furthermore, the frequency of effector WT1126 -CTLs positively correlated with WT1126 -CTL clonality in PTs; whereas, the frequency of naïve phenotype WT1126 -CTLs tended to be negatively correlated with clonality. In conclusion, these results suggest that the WT1 protein in tumor cells is highly immunogenic, thereby stimulating endogenous naïve-type WT1126 -CTLs and enabling them to clonally expand and differentiate into effector-type WT1126 -CTLs., (© 2024. The Author(s).)- Published
- 2024
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