T-cell receptor gene therapy in human melanoma-bearing immune-deficient mice: human but not mouse T cells recapitulate outcome of clinical studies.

Adoptive cell therapy using T-cell receptor (TCR)-engineered T cells is a clinically feasible and promising approach to target tumors, but is currently faced with compromised antitumor efficacies in patients. Here, we extensively validated immune-deficient mice to facilitate further development of the therapeutic potential of TCR-engineered T cells. Treatment of human melanoma-bearing SCID or NSG mice with high doses of human T cells transduced with an hgp100/HLA-A2-specific TCR did not result in antitumor responses irrespective of chemotherapeutic preconditioning.