Prognostic roles for IL-2-producing and CD69 T cell subsets in colorectal cancer patients.

Tumor infiltrating T cells are a predictor of patient outcome in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). However, many T cell populations have been associated with both poor and positive patient prognoses, indicating a need to further understand the role of different T cell subsets in CRC. In this study, the T cell infiltrate from the tumor and nontumor bowel (NTB) was examined in 95 CRC patients using flow cytometry and associations with cancer stage and disease recurrence made.

Epitope-specific immunotherapy targeting CD4-positive T cells in coeliac disease: two randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 1 studies.

Background: A gluten-free diet is the only means to manage coeliac disease, a permanent immune intolerance to gluten. We developed a therapeutic vaccine, Nexvax2, designed to treat coeliac disease. Nexvax2 is an adjuvant-free mix of three peptides that include immunodominant epitopes for gluten-specific CD4-positive T cells.

Inclusion of BLIMP-1 effector regulatory T cells improves the Immunoscore in a cohort of New Zealand colorectal cancer patients: a pilot study.

Analysis of tumour-infiltrating T cells in colorectal cancer can predict disease-free survival. The Immunoscore, obtained by quantifying tumour-infiltrating CD3 and CD8 T cells, may improve current staging. Effector regulatory T cells are a potently suppressive subset in mice and, while present in human colorectal cancer, their role in patient outcome is unknown.

Functional impairment of infiltrating T cells in human colorectal cancer.

T cells play a crucial role in preventing the growth and spread of colorectal cancer (CRC). However, immunotherapies against CRC have only shown limited success, which may be due to lack of understanding about the effect of the local tumor microenvironment (TME) on T cell function. The goal of this study was to determine whether T cells in tumor tissue were functionally impaired compared to T cells in non-tumor bowel (NTB) tissue from the same patients.

Chitosan gel vaccine protects against tumour growth in an intracaecal mouse model of cancer by modulating systemic immune responses.

Background: Vaccination generating a robust memory population of CD8 T cells may provide protection against cancer. However, immune therapies for cancer are influenced by the local tumour immune microenvironment. An infiltrate of T cells into tumours of people with colorectal cancer has proven to be a significant indicator of good prognosis.

Consistency in polyclonal T-cell responses to gluten between children and adults with celiac disease.

Background & Aims: Developing antigen-specific approaches for diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease requires a detailed understanding of the specificity of T cells for gluten. The existing paradigm is that T-cell lines and clones from children differ from those of adults in the hierarchy and diversity of peptide recognition. We aimed to characterize the T-cell response to gluten in children vs adults with celiac disease.

Chitosan hydrogel vaccine generates protective CD8 T cell memory against mouse melanoma.

CD8(+) T cells are important in the control of viral infections and cancers because of their cytolytic activity. A vaccine able to generate these cells could be beneficial in the prevention or treatment of these diseases. Chitosan hydrogel is a promising vaccine formulation that has previously been shown to generate effector CD8(+) T cells in a mouse model.

Inflammatory and regulatory T cells contribute to a unique immune microenvironment in tumor tissue of colorectal cancer patients.

Colorectal cancer is one of the five leading causes of cancer mortality worldwide. The mechanisms of pathogen clearance, inflammation and regulation by T cells in the healthy bowel are also important in controlling tumor growth. The majority of studies analyzing T cells and their relationship to colorectal tumor growth have focused on individual T cell markers or gene clusters and thus the complexity of the T cell response contributing to the growth of the tumor is not clear.

Density of tumour stroma is correlated to outcome after adoptive transfer of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in a murine mammary carcinoma model.

Adoptive immunotherapy shows promise for the treatment of cancer; however, partial or mixed responses remain common outcomes due to the heterogeneity of tumours. We studied three murine mammary tumour lines that express an ovalbumin-tagged version of HER-2/neu and reproducibly undergo complete regression (CR), partial regression (PR), or progressive disease (PD) after adoptive transfer of ovalbumin-specific CD8(+) (OT-I) and CD4(+) (OT-II) T cells. The three tumour lines were implanted in immunocompetent C57Bl/6 host mice, and established tumours were treated by adoptive transfer of naive OT-I and OT-II T cells.

Tumor-infiltrating T cells correlate with NY-ESO-1-specific autoantibodies in ovarian cancer.

Background: Tumor-infiltrating CD8+ T cells are correlated with prolonged progression-free and overall survival in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). A significant fraction of EOC patients mount autoantibody responses to various tumor antigens, however the relationship between autoantibodies and tumor-infiltrating T cells has not been investigated in EOC or any other human cancer. We hypothesized that autoantibody and T cell responses may be correlated in EOC and directed toward the same antigens.