Identification of oral squamous cell carcinoma-associated antigens recognized by T cells

主要通过T细胞的免疫应答被认为在宿主对肿瘤细胞的防御机制中起核心作用。本研究旨在鉴定抗口腔鳞癌T细胞受体（TCR）及其识别抗原。主要研究结果如下：1）抗肿瘤T细胞TCR的鉴定：PCR分析显示，限制性Vβ基因家族在肿瘤浸润性淋巴细胞中广泛存在。进一步基于SSCP的分析发现在某些Vβ基因家族中T细胞克隆型的寡克隆扩增。2）识别T细胞识别的鳞状细胞癌抗原-1（SART-1）的T细胞的体外诱导：通过用SART-1肽培养外周血单个核细胞成功地体外诱导识别SART-1的T细胞。用同样的方法分析了T细胞所用的TCR Vβ基因，发现了相似的T细胞克隆型，并进一步对识别SART-1的T细胞所用的TCR Vβ基因进行了DNA测序，这些结果将有助于SART-1疫苗治疗的建立和疗效的评估。

Immune response mainly by T cells is considered to play a central role in the host defense mechanisms against tumor cells. This study was addressed to identify T cell receptor (TCR) and recognizing antigen of T cells against oral squamous cell carcinoma. Results obtained in this research were as follows.1)Identification of TCR of anti-tumor T cells : PCR-based analysis revealed that restricted Vβ gene families are frequently used in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes. Further SSCP-based analysis found oligoclonal expansion of T cell clonotypes in some Vβ gene families. Almost same results were obtained by analyses in regional lymph nodes.2)In vitro induction of T cells recognizing squamous cell carcinoma antigen recognized by T cells-1 (SART-1): In vitro induction of T cells recognizing SART-1 was successful by culture of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with SART-1 peptides. TCR Vβ genes used by the T cells were analyzed by same methods as mentioned above and similar T cell clonotypes were found to be included.DNA sequencing of TCR Vβ genes used by the T cells recognizing SART-1 is further being performed, and these results will be useful for the establishment of vaccination therapy with SART-1 and also the estimation of its efficacies.