Immune activation status of CD8+ T cells infiltrating non-small cell lung cancer.

In a variety of human cancers, the presence of tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs) is associated with tumor regression and favorable prognosis. Local interferon (IFN)-gamma secretion from activated T cells is supposed to induce a specific immune response leading to tumor-specific cytotoxicity. Nonetheless, significance and properties of TILs still remains controversial in lung cancer patients.

Immune reactivity against a novel HLA-A3-restricted influenza virus peptide identified by predictive algorithms and interferon-gamma quantitative PCR.

The use of appropriate antigenic peptides for the most common human major histocompatibility complex (MHC) alleles is required for the amplification of the autologous cytotoxic compartment and the development of cytotoxic T cell-mediated immunity. The human A2 allele of the MHC plays an important role for the identification of peptide-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTL) against tumor and viral epitopes. Computer-based prediction algorithms, which are available on the Internet, have already proved to be applicable for the identification of novel CTL epitopes.