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

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine whether EBV seropositive patients with lung cancer have an altered virus-specific CTL response, as compared to age-matched healthy controls and whether any variation in this response could be attributed to senescence. METHODS: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSIONS: 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.