Breast cancer patients have multifunctional tumor-reactive CD4 T cells in both blood and tumor

Abstract

Background: As cancer immunotherapy gains importance, the determination of a patient’s ability to react to his/her tumor is unquestionable. The role of CD8 T cells in disease control is well acknowledged due to their ability to directly kill tumor cells. However, the importance of CD4 T cells, and the phenotype that they acquire during disease, are still poorly defined. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the presence of tumor-reactive CD4 T cells in the blood and tumor of breast cancer patients, and evaluate their phenotype and function.