Abstract
Multiple experimental and clinical studies have suggested that the immune system may, to some extent, control the development of melanomas. The presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes could reflect an in situ immune reaction directed to the malignant cells. The characterization of T-cell receptor (TCR) expressed by tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes is one way to precisely analyze these local T-cell responses. In this study, we have assessed the TCR α/β variability in tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes from a subcutaneous metastasis of a melanoma patient. Using the anchored-polymerase chain reaction 268 TCR α and 266 TCR β chain transcripts have been cloned and sequenced. Their analysis shows that the T-cell infiltrate is extremely diverse, with no preferential TCR gene segment usage.
Footnotes
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↵1 Supported in part by ADRC Grants 2110 and 6338.
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↵2 To whom requests for reprints should be addressed, at Laboratoire d'Hémato-Immunologie, INSERM U333, Institut Gustave Roussy, 39 rue Camille Desmoulins, 94805 Villejuif Cedex, France.
- Received January 15, 1992.
- Accepted June 23, 1992.
- ©1992 American Association for Cancer Research.