The induction of cytotoxic T lymphocytes against HLA-A locus-matched lung adenocarcinoma in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

To induce cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) against non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) efficiently, the induction of CTL was attempted using HLA-A locus-shared allogeneic NSCLC cells. T cells derived from either tumor tissue specimens or the regional lymph nodes of patients with NSCLC were stimulated twice or three times with an HLA-A2/A24-positive NSCLC cell line (PC-9), and thereafter the cytotoxic activity was examined by 51Cr-release assay. In patients with HLA-A24/ adenocarcinoma, anti-PC-9 cytotoxicity was induced in all 6 patients tested. Anti-PC-9 cytotoxicity was induced in 2 out of 5 patients with HLA-A2 (A24-)/adenocarcinoma, in 2 out of 4 patients with HLA-A24/squamous cell carcinoma, and 1 of 2 patients with HLA-A2/squamous cell carcinoma. The cytotoxic activity was observed to kill PC-9 selectively, not other NSCLC lines, and the activity was substantially blocked by anti-MHC class I antibody, but not by anti-MHC class II antibody. The PC-9-specific CTL produced gamma-interferon in response to autologous tumor cells. These results indicated that the anti-PC-9 cytotoxicity was mediated by cytotoxic T lymphocytes that may recognize the T cell epitope(s) shared and presented by HLA-A2 and/or HLA-A24-positive NSCLC.