In vitro induction of tumor-specific HLA class I-restricted CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes from patients with locally advanced breast cancer by tumor antigen-pulsed autologous dendritic cells.

Background. Early dissemination of treatment-resistant tumor cells remains the major cause of metastatic recurrence and death in breast cancer patients. Dendritic cells (DCs) are the most powerful antigen-presenting cells, and recently DC-based vaccination has shown great promise for the treatment of human malignancies by immunological intervention. Materials and methods. CD8+ T lymphocytes derived from peripheral blood mononuclear cells stimulated in vitro with autologous breast tumor antigen-pulsed DCs were tested for their ability to induce a HLA class I restricted cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response against autologous tumor cells. To correlate cytotoxic activity by CTL with T cell phenotype, two-color flow cytometric analysis of surface markers and intracellular cytokine expression was performed. Results. DC pulsed with breast tumor extracts consistently elicited a tumor-specific HLA class I restricted CTL response in vitro in three consecutive patients harboring locally advanced breast cancer. CTL expressed strong cytolytic activity against autologous tumor cells but did not lyse autologous Epstein Barr virus-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines and showed variable cytotoxicity against the natural killer-sensitive cell line K-562. In all patients, two color flow cytometric analysis of surface markers and intracellular cytokine expression demonstrated that tumor-specific CTL exhibited an heterogeneous CD8+/CD56+ expression and a striking Th1 cytokine bias (IFNγhigh/IL-4 low). Conclusions. Tumor lysate-pulsed DCs can consistently stimulate specific CD8+ CTLs able to kill autologous tumor cells in patients with locally advanced breast cancer in vitro. Tumor antigen-pulsed DC-based vaccinations may be appropriate for the treatment of residual and/or chemotherapy-resistant breast cancer refractory to standard salvage treatment modalities.