Gene expression profile of tumor antigen-specific CD4 T cells

Up to know CD4 T cell antitumor responses have been mostly studied in transplanted tumor models. However, although they are valuable tools, they are not suitable to study the long term interactions between tumors and the immune system We used gene expression profiling to characterize the fate of naive tumor antigen-specific CD4 T cells in a genetically-induced lung adenocarcinoma expressing the MHC-II restricted DBY antigen as a model tumor antigen. Naïve DBY-specific Marilyn CD4 T (Marilyn) were transferred into mice bearing early or advanced tumors. Total tumor antigen-specific Marilyn CD4 T cells were purified from the tumor-draining lymph node 7 days after transfer.