Functional T cell responses to tumor antigens in breast cancer patients have a distinct phenotype and cytokine signature.

The overall prevalence with which endogenous tumor Ags induce host T cell responses is unclear. Even when such responses are detected, they do not usually result in spontaneous remission of the cancer. We hypothesized that this might be associated with a predominant phenotype and/or cytokine profile of tumor-specific responses that is different from protective T cell responses to other chronic Ags, such as CMV.

Modeling individual variation in biomarker response to combination immunosuppression with stimulated lymphocyte responses-potential clinical implications.

Background: In mitogen-stimulated lymphocyte responses (sLR), cytokines and cell-surface receptors in peripheral human blood lymphocytes (PBL) are sensitive to cyclosporine (CsA), and can predict its in vivo effect with pharmacodynamic (PD) modeling. This is not known for multiple-agent combinations.

Methods: Twenty-five concentration mixtures of CsA (0-1200 ng/ml) plus sirolimus (SRL, 0-30 ng/ml) were added to whole blood from five normal human subjects (NHS) for effect on a limited array of six targets.