The spontaneous neoantigen-specific CD4⁺ T cell response to a growing tumor is functionally and phenotypically diverse.

ABSTRACT: CD4⁺ T cells play critical roles in the positive and negative regulation of cellular immunity through the many functional subsets they comprise. The progressive growth of immunogenic tumors which nonetheless generate mutation-specific T cells suggests that effective immune control may be avoided or suppressed at the level of the neoantigen-specific CD4⁺ T cell response. We used a tetramer specific for a validated neoantigen, CTLC_H129>Q/I-E^k, to characterize the ontogeny of natural CD4⁺ T cell responses to an aggressive and poorly immunogenic Major Histocompatibility Complex Class II (MHCII)-deficient tumor, SCC VII, during progressive growth or following therapeutic peptide vaccination. We find that the natural CD4⁺ T cell r

SUBMITTER: Griswold RQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11974889 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature