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TCR repertoires of intratumoral T‐cell subsets
Author(s) -
Linnemann Carsten,
Mezzadra Riccardo,
Schumacher Ton N. M.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
immunological reviews
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.839
H-Index - 223
eISSN - 1600-065X
pISSN - 0105-2896
DOI - 10.1111/imr.12140
Subject(s) - t cell receptor , biology , repertoire , immunotherapy , epitope , exome , exome sequencing , cancer immunotherapy , t cell , immunology , antigen , cancer research , computational biology , gene , immune system , mutation , genetics , physics , acoustics
Summary The infiltration of human tumors by T cells is a common phenomenon, and over the past decades, it has become increasingly clear that the nature of such intratumoral T‐cell populations can predict disease course. Furthermore, intratumoral T cells have been utilized therapeutically in clinical studies of adoptive T‐cell therapy. In this review, we describe how novel methods that are either based on T‐cell receptor ( TCR ) sequencing or on cancer exome analysis allow the analysis of the tumor reactivity and antigen‐specificity of the intratumoral TCR repertoire with unprecedented detail. Furthermore, we discuss studies that have started to utilize these techniques to probe the link between cancer exomes and the intratumoral TCR pool. Based on the observation that both the cancer epitope repertoire and intratumoral TCR repertoire appear highly individual, we outline strategies, such as ‘autologous TCR gene therapy’, that exploit the tumor‐resident TCR repertoire for the development of personalized immunotherapy.