Vaccine-Primed Lymph Node Cells In the Adoptive Immunotherapy of Cancer: Presence of Host Immune Suppression Induced by Established Cancer

摘要

Lymph nodes represent critical lymphoid compartments where antigen-presenting cells interact with T cells to propagate cellular immune responses. As such, they represent a unique source of "pre-effector" T cells that can be induced by the regional inoculation of tumor antigen as a vaccine. Utilizing this concept, we have been able to generate tumor-reactive T cells from vaccine-primed lymph nodes (VPLNs) that can mediate tumor regression in adoptive immunotherapy. This chapter describes how this pre-effector response in VPLNs can be suppressed by the presence of established systemic tumor. This suppression involves the B7-H1/PD-1 axis as well as TGF-beta. Methods to block these suppressive mechanisms will be important in improving future adoptive cellular therapy approaches.