Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose:To study the drainage of tumor-antigens from intraocular tumors. Methods:Tumors (Ad5E1) expressing the E1A-epitope were inoculated into the anterior chamber (AC) of syngeneic C57BL/6 mice. Control mice were either injected subcutaneously (sc) with Ad5E1 tumor cells or received Ad5E1 tumor cell suspension eye drops with or without previous corneal damage. Eighteen days later, E1A-specific CD8+ T cells (st-42+ cells) from TCR-transgenic C57BL/6 mice labeled with or without CFSE were adoptively transferred into all mice. Five days later, st-42+ cells in draining and non-draining lymph nodes, spleens and tumors were analyzed for clonal expansion and activation by flow cytometry. Results:In all cases, the TCR-specific T cells localized exclusively to the draining lymph nodes after inoculation of Ad5E1 tumor cells into the AC (submandibular LNs) and when the tumor was placed under the skin (axially and inguinal LNs). No clonal expansion of st-42+ T cells was found in non-draining LNs and spleens of mice bearing a tumor in the AC. Primed tumor-specific T cells were both found in AC tumor- and sc tumor-bearing mice. All mice, injected intravenously with st-42+ cells, nevertheless died of their tumor. There was no clonal expansion and priming of TCR-specific T cells in mice treated with tumor cell suspension eyedrops, with or without corneal damage. Conclusion:Antigens from a tumor in the AC of the eye are specifically draining to the submandibular lymph nodes leading to priming and clonal expansion of tumor-specific T cells in the draining lymph node. However, these tumor-specific T cells are not able to eradicate tumors as tumor-growth was unhibited.
Keywords: 610 tumors • 320 antigen presentation/processing • 317 anterior chamber