Ex Vivo Triggering of T-Cell-Mediated Immune Responses by Autologous Tumor Cell Vaccine in Oral Cancer Patients

Abstract

We investigated immunomodulatory activity of autologous tumor cell vaccine from oral cancer patients ex vivo by lymphoproliferation assay and two color flow cytometry. Vaccine treatment lead to 10-fold higher proliferation of lymphocytes compared with the untreated controls. A significant increase in CD69+ and HLA-DR+ T-cells was observed in vaccine pulsed cultures compared with untreated (p<0.0001) controls. The frequency of IFN-γ and IL-2 expressing CD4+/CD8+T-cell subsets was significantly higher with a concomitant reduction in IL-4 and IL-10 expression in the vaccine-treated group (p<0.0001) compared with the untreated controls. Vaccine treatment further increased T-cell receptor Vβ3, Vβ5, and Vβ8 usage. It seems that the autologous tumor cell vaccine triggers T‐cell responses ex vivo, hence it may have a protective role in oral cancer patients.