Extensive cross-reactivity of CD4+ adenovirus-specific T cells: implications for immunotherapy and gene therapy

Bianca Heemskerk1, Louise A Veltrop-Duits, Tamara van Vreeswijk

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands. B.Heemskerk@lumc.nl

Journal of Virology
|May 14, 2003
PubMed

Adenovirus (Ad)-specific T-cell responses in healthy adult donors were investigated. Ad5, inactivated by methylene blue plus visible light, induced proliferation and gamma interferon (IFN-gamma) production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of the majority of donors. Responding T cells were CD4(+) and produced IFN-gamma upon restimulation with infectious Ad5 and Ads of different subgroups. T-cell clones showed distinct cross-reactivity patterns recognizing Ad serotypes from either one subgroup (C), two subgroups (B and C), or three subgroups (A, B, and C). This cross-reactivity of Ad-specific T cells has relevance both for Ad-based gene therapy protocols, as well as for the feasibility of T-cell-mediated adoptive immunotherapy in recipients of an allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

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