Peripheral blood gamma-delta T cells in advanced-stage cancer patients

Quantitative peripheral blood perturbations of γδ T cells in human disease and their clinical implications

Human γδ T cells, which play innate and adaptive, protective as well as destructive, roles in the immune response, were discovered in 1986, but the clinical significance of alterations of the levels of these cells in the peripheral blood in human diseases has not been comprehensively reviewed. Here, we review patterns of easily measurable changes of this subset of T cells in peripheral blood from relevant publications in PubMed and their correlations with specific disease categories, specific diagnoses within disease categories, and prognostic outcomes. These collective data suggest that enumeration of γδ T cells and their subsets in the peripheral blood of patients could be a useful tool to evaluate diagnosis and prognosis in the clinical setting.

The role of T lymphocytes in cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy with autologous dendritic cells

INTRODUCTION

Cancer stems from mutations in specific genes that induce uncontrolled cell proliferation. Dendritic cells (DCs) are important immunologic cells and play a crucial role in the induction of an antitumour response.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We examined the immune response mediated by T lymphocytes, helper T cells, cytotoxic T cells, and regulatory T cells, as well as the cytokines [interleukin (IL)-2, IL-12, interferon (IFN)-γ, tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α and IL-10], produced by these cell populations, in cancer patients (N = 7) undergoing immunotheraphy with autologous DCs.

RESULTS

We observed an initial increase in T helper cells (CD4+) expressing IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-12, TNF-α, and IL-10 after initiation of treatment, with statistically significant for the cytokines IL-2, TNF-α and IL-10. A similar significant effect was observed for IL-2-expressing cytotoxic T cells (CD8+). The percentage of total T cells (CD3+) remained elevated throughout immunotherapy. Regulatory T cells (CD25+/FOXP3+) only showed high percentage of their maximum value when analyzed the pretreatment levels, with statistically significant.

CONCLUSION

Immunotherapy with DCs stimulated the immune response, as evidenced by an increase in percent fluorescence of most cell populations investigated during the specified treatment period.

Rebalancing immune specificity and function in cancer by T-cell receptor gene therapy

Adoptive immunotherapy with tumor-specific T lymphocytes has demonstrated clinical benefit in some cancers, particularly melanoma. Yet isolating and expanding tumor-specific cells from patients is challenging and there is limited ability to control T-cell affinity and response characteristics. T-cell receptor (TCR) gene therapy, in which T lymphocytes for immunotherapy are redirected using an introduced rearranged TCR, has emerged as an important alternative. Successful TCR gene therapy requires consideration of a number of issues, including TCR specificity and affinity, optimal gene therapy constructs, types of T cells administered, and the survival and activity of the modified cells. In this review we highlight the rationale for and experience with TCR gene therapy as well as new approaches to enhancing it.