Human stomach carcinoma-specific T cells derived from the tumour-draining lymph nodes

In this paper we investigate the reactivity pattern of T cells from stomach carcinoma patients against autologous tumour cells. T cells obtained from the tumour environment, tumour-draining lymph nodes and peripheral blood were cloned in 78 patients with stomach cancer and anti-tumour cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) precursor frequencies were assessed in each sample by using limiting dilution analysis. When tumour-specific CTLs were tested for specific T-cell killing by using only low doses of Interleukin 2 (100 U ml-1), a moderate rate of proliferation frequency of T cells (0.047) and specific cytotoxicity (12%) were observed in lymph node populations. When both IL-2 and autologous tumour cells in mixed lymphocyte tumour cultures (MLTCs) were used for stimulation, a dramatic increase in number (0.1) and in specific lytic activity (46%) could be measured. No effect or specific activity to tumour cells was observed with peripheral blood lymphocytes and tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes.