Cytolytic T-cell response against Epstein-Barr virus in lung cancer patients and healthy subjects

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from lung cancer patients, age-matched and younger healthy individuals were used to measure EBV-specific CTLs after in vitro amplification with the GLCTLVAML and RYSIFFDYM peptides followed by HLA-multimer staining.Lung cancer patients and aged-matched controls had significantly lesser EBV-specific CTL than younger healthy individuals. Multimer positive populations from either group did not differ with respect to the percentage of multimer positive CTLs and the intensity of multimer binding.This study provides evidence that patients with lung cancer exhibit an EBV-specific CTL response equivalent to that of age-matched healthy counterparts. These data warrant the examination of whether young individuals have a more robust anti-tumor response, as is the case with the anti-EBV response.Evidence suggests that cancer patients present with a compromised immune response of multifactorial origin, including the tumor itself. It seems that the early stages of tumor growth appear not to elicit systemic immune deficiency and are sometimes associated with antigen-specific tolerance, while generalized immunodeficiency can arise during the late stages of tumor development [1]. Related data are mainly derived either from in vitro experiments or from DTH measurements in the context of cancer immunotherapy [2]. Therefore, the existing evidence remains inconclusive, while the significance of the described immune alterations in relation to the ability of cancer patients to mount effective responses against pathogens has not been clarified. Finally, there is existing controversy regarding the efficacy of influenza vaccination in patients with cancer [3,4].This study was scheduled in order to examine whether, at diagnosis, EBV seropositive patients with lung cancer, have a compromised virus-specific CTL response, as compared to age-matched healthy controls. A group of younger healthy individuals was also examined to ascertain whether a possible reducti