Study of Polyfunctionality of Anti-tumor T Lymphocytes in Cancerology: Potential Biomarker for Emerging Immunotherapies

In this study an immunomonitoring of specific responses of T lymphocytes to tumor-associated antigens based on detection of intracellular cytokines through flow cytometry, after stimulation with all-tumor antigens and blockade of PD-1/PDL-1 interaction is used. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients with cancers are stimulated with 4 telomerase-peptides or peptides overlapping the entire sequence of survivin.

This project studies the frequency and role of polyfunctionality of anti-tumor T lymphocytes in cancerology with an in vitro technique detecting polyfunctional T lymphocytes with a better sensitivity based on removal of an inhibitory PD-1/PDL-1 pathway. It is a flow cytometry protocol with various theoretical advantages in terms of reproducibility and dynamic monitoring of functionality of different sub-populations of polyfunctional anti-tumor T lymphocytes. Moreover, it allows the study of molecular mechanisms involved in proliferation of polyfunctional anti-tumor T lymphocytes with the possibility to sort sub-populations.

The use of all-tumor antigens allows the use of this technique to evaluate the presence and prognostic or predictive value of this biomarker in various cancers.

Detection of polyfunctional anti-tumor T lymphocytes can be a biomarker of anti-tumor lymphocytic adaptive immunity and a potential eligibility or efficacy criteria for new immunotherapies, such as anti-PD-1 or anti-PDL-1 treatments.