Differences in T-cell immunity toward tumor-associated antigens in colorectal cancer and breast cancer patients

Int J Cancer. 2003 Jun 10;105(2):221-5. doi: 10.1002/ijc.11052.

Abstract

There is increasing evidence that tumors elicit specific T-cell responses in a substantial proportion of patients. Recently, we have shown that in patients with colorectal cancer specific T cells against the tumor-associated antigens (TAA) Ep-CAM, her-2/neu or CEA can be detected in peripheral blood using IFNgamma-ELISPOT assay. In our study, we have analyzed T-cell responses against HLA-A*0201-restricted epitopes of these TAA in peripheral blood of patients with breast cancer and colorectal cancer. Surprisingly, a complete absence of ex vivo T-cell responses against these TAA was found in 20 patients with breast cancer. In contrast, specific T cells were detectable in 12 of 49 patients with colorectal cancer against at least 1 of these TAA, confirming our previous results. T-cell responses against influenza-derived peptides were similar in both malignancies. The results of our study indicate a difference either of tumor immunogenicity or of the migratory pattern of tumor-specific T cells between breast cancer and colorectal cancer patients. The findings reported here have implications for the development of antigen-specific T-cell therapies.

MeSH terms

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal / immunology
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / immunology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / blood
  • Breast Neoplasms / immunology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / pathology
  • Carcinoembryonic Antigen / immunology
  • Carcinoembryonic Antigen / pharmacology
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Cell Adhesion Molecules / immunology*
  • Colorectal Neoplasms / blood
  • Colorectal Neoplasms / immunology*
  • Colorectal Neoplasms / pathology
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay / methods
  • Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / immunology
  • Female
  • Flow Cytometry
  • HLA-A Antigens / immunology
  • HLA-A2 Antigen / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Cellular
  • Interferon-gamma / metabolism
  • Lymphocyte Activation / immunology*
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Peptide Fragments / immunology*
  • Peptide Fragments / pharmacology
  • Pokeweed Mitogens / immunology
  • Pokeweed Mitogens / pharmacology
  • Receptor, ErbB-2 / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / immunology
  • Viral Matrix Proteins / immunology

Substances

  • Antibodies, Monoclonal
  • Antigens, Neoplasm
  • Carcinoembryonic Antigen
  • Cell Adhesion Molecules
  • Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule
  • Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte
  • HLA-A Antigens
  • HLA-A*02:01 antigen
  • HLA-A2 Antigen
  • Peptide Fragments
  • Pokeweed Mitogens
  • Viral Matrix Proteins
  • influenza matrix peptide (58-66)
  • Interferon-gamma
  • Receptor, ErbB-2