Klin Onkol 2008; 21(2): 59-65.
Backgrounds: Multiple myeloma is an incurable hematological disease. High-dose chemotherapy including autologous stem cell transplantation is recently considered a standard therapy for myeloma. Unfortunately, a relapse of the disease is inevitable. Therefore, new approaches such as immunotherapy have been considered recently. A specifi c activation of cytotoxic T cells
can be reached using dendritic cells loaded with tumor-specifi c antigens. The HLA-A2-specifi c nonapeptides as hTERT derived from catalytic subunit of telomerase and MUC1 derived from mucin protein can be used. Design and subjects: Activation, identifi cation, separation and expansion of myeloma-specifi c T cells from healthy HLA-A2 blood donors were tested in an in vitro study using hTERT and MUC1 nonapeptides as tumor-specifi c antigens. Methods and results: T cells and dendritic cells were obtained from peripheral blood. T cells were repeatedly stimulated with hTERT and MUC1 nonapeptide-loaded dendritic cells. Activated myeloma-specifi c T cells produced interferon gamma and were evaluated by fl ow cytometry. The activated T cells were immunomagnetically separated and in vitro expanded to the number usable in clinical trials. Conclusions: This study demonstrates feasibility of a specifi c activation, identifi cation, separation and expansion of tumor-specifi c T cells that can be used in myeloma therapy.
