Autoimmune melanocyte destruction is required for robust CD8+ memory T cell responses to mouse melanoma.

ABSTRACT: A link between autoimmunity and improved antitumor immunity has long been recognized, although the exact mechanistic relationship between these two phenomena remains unclear. In the present study we have found that vitiligo, the autoimmune destruction of melanocytes, generates self antigen required for mounting persistent and protective memory CD8+ T cell responses to melanoma. Vitiligo developed in approximately 60% of mice that were depleted of regulatory CD4+ T cells and then subjected to surgical excision of large established B16 melanomas. Mice with vitiligo generated 10-fold larger populations of CD8+ memory T cells specific for shared melanoma/melanocyte antigens. CD8+ T cells in mice with vitiligo acquired phenotypic and functional characteristics of effector memory, suggesting tha

SUBMITTER: Byrne KT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3083789 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature