Processing of tumor antigen differentially impacts the development of helper and effector CD4+ T-cell responses.

CD4(+) T cells contribute to the antitumor T-cell response as both effectors that promote tumor rejection and helpers that facilitate the activation of other antitumor effector cells, such as CD8(+) T cells. Maximal engagement of both effector and helper CD4(+) T-cell responses is a desirable attribute of cancer vaccines. We have employed the B16F10 murine melanoma model and a series of recombinant adenovirus (Ad) vaccines expressing mutant forms of the tumor antigen, dopachrome tautomerase, to investigate the relationship between antigen processing and the antitumor CD4(+) T-cell response. Our results have revealed an unexpected dichotomy in the generation of helper and effector CD4(+) T-cell responses where CD4(+) T effector responses are dependent upon protein processing and trafficking, whereas CD4(+) T helper responses are not. The results have important implications for strategies aimed at augmenting antigen immunogenicity by altering intracellular processing and localization.

Elevated frequencies of self-reactive CD8+ T cells following immunization with a xenoantigen are due to the presence of a heteroclitic CD4+ T-cell helper epitope.

Immunization of mice with human dopachrome tautomerase (hDCT) provides greater protection against melanoma than immunization with the murine homologue (mDCT). We mapped the CD8(+) and CD4(+) T-cell epitopes in both proteins to better understand the mechanisms of the enhanced protection. The dominant CD8(+) T-cell epitopes were fully conserved between both proteins, yet immunization with hDCT produced frequencies of CD8(+) T cells that were 5- to 10-fold higher than immunization with mDCT. This difference was not intrinsic to the two proteins because comparable frequencies of CD8(+) T cells were elicited by both antigens in DCT-deficient mice. Strikingly, only hDCT elicited a significant level of specific CD4(+) T cells in wild-type (WT) mice. The murine protein was not devoid of CD4(+) T-cell epitopes because immunization of DCT-deficient mice with mDCT resulted in robust CD4(+) T-cell immunity directed against two epitopes that were not identified in WT mice. These results suggested that the reduced immunogenicity of mDCT in WT mice may be a function of insufficient CD4(+) T-cell help. To address this possibility, the dominant CD4(+) T-cell epitope from hDCT was introduced into mDCT. Immunization with the mutated mDCT evoked CD8(+) T-cell frequencies and protective immunity comparable with hDCT. These results reveal a novel mechanism by which xenoantigens overcome tolerance. Our data also suggest that immunologic tolerance is more stringent for CD4(+) T cells than CD8(+) T cells, providing a mechanism of peripheral tolerance where autoreactive CD8(+) T cells fail to be activated due to a lack of autoreactive CD4(+) T cells specific for the same antigen.