Tumor-Infiltrating Merkel Cell Polyomavirus-Specific T Cells Are Diverse and Associated with Improved Patient Survival.

ABSTRACT: Tumor-infiltrating CD8⁺ T cells are associated with improved survival of patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), an aggressive skin cancer causally linked to Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV). However, CD8⁺ T-cell infiltration is robust in only 4% to 18% of MCC tumors. We characterized the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire restricted to one prominent epitope of MCPyV (KLLEIAPNC, "KLL") and assessed whether TCR diversity, tumor infiltration, or T-cell avidity correlated with clinical outcome. HLA-A*02:01/KLL tetramer⁺ CD8⁺ T cells from MCC patient peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) were isolated via flow cytometry. TCRβ (TRB) sequencing was performed on tetramer⁺ cells from PBMCs or TILs

SUBMITTER: Miller NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5421625 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature