Cytotoxic T-cell precursor frequencies to HER-2 (369 – 377) in patients with HER-2/neu-positive epithelial tumours

HER-2/neu oncoprotein contains several major histocompatibility complex class I-restricted epitopes, which are recognised by cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) on autologous tumours and therefore can be used in immune-based cancer therapies. Of these, the most extensively studied is HER-2(9(369)). In the present report, we used dendritic cells pulsed with HER-2(9(369)) to stimulate, in the presence of IL-7 and IL-12, the production of IFN-γ by patients' CTL detected by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot-assay. Frequencies of peptide-specific precursors were estimated in HLA-A2, HLA-A3 and HLA-A26 patients with HER-2/neu-positive (+) breast, ovarian, lung, colorectal and prostate cancers and healthy individuals. We found increased percentages of such precursors in HLA-A2 (25%) and HLA-A26 (30%) patients, which were significantly higher (60%) in HLA-A3 patients. Our results demonstrate for the first time that pre-existing immunity to HER-2(9(369)) occurs in patients with colorectal, lung and prostate cancer. They also suggest that HER-2(9(369)) can be recognised by CTL, besides HLA-A2, also in the context of HLA-A3 and HLA-A26, thus increasing the applicability of HER-2(9(369))-based vaccinations in a considerably broader patients' population.