Transcriptional Profiles of Mart-1(27-35) Epitope Specific TCReng Human CD8+ and CD4+ T Cells upon Epitope Encounter as Elucidated by RNA-Seq

ACT with in vitro expanded populations of T cells, generated from tumor infiltrating lymphocytes, has shown remarkable results in human tumor immunotherapy [1-6]. These approaches are based on fundamental principles underlying T cell activation and effector function [7-9]. Unfortunately, while these approaches have proved therapeutically quite useful, various biological processes that regulate T cell functions and fate have turned out to be impediments in extracting a more uniform and sustained result with these approaches [7,8]. Accordingly, considerable efforts are underway to understand these regulatory mechanisms so that a more robust and long-lived anti-tumor response could be obtained by targeting these regulatory pathways.