Development of a T-cell receptor multimer with high avidity for detecting a naturally presented tumor-associated...

For efficacy of peptide vaccination immunotherapy for patients with cancer, endogenous expression of the target peptide/human leukocyte antigen (HLA) on cancer cells is required. However, it is difficult to evaluate the expression status of a peptide/HLA complex because of the lack of a soluble T-cell receptor (TCR) that reacts with tumor-associated antigen (TAA) with high avidity. In the present study, we developed two soluble TCR-multimers that were each directed to TAA, survivin-2B (SVN-2B) and PBF in the context of HLA-A24 (SVN-2B TCR-multimer and PBF TCR-multimer, respectively), from CTL clones that were established from peptide-vaccinated patients. Both TCR multimers could recognize cognate peptide-pulsed antigen-presenting cells, C1R-A24 cells, in a CD8-independent method. Moreover, the PBF TCR-multimer successfully recognized a PBF peptide naturally presented on HLA-A24⁺ PBF⁺ osteosarcoma cells. Taken together, the results indicated that a TCR-multimer might be useful for detection of a TAA-derived peptide presented by HLA in patients receiving immunotherapy.