TCD8+ response to HLA-B18/NY-ESO-188–96.

Melanoma patients from three clinical trials (see Materials and Methods) with detectable anti-NY-ESO-1 antibody responses and HLA-B18 expression were selected for the screen. T cells from PBMC samples post vaccination (or placebo controls that did not receive the NY-ESO-1 ISCOMATRIX™ vaccine but received diluents) were expanded with 18 mer NY-ESO-179–96 peptide for 12∼15 days and assessed with NY-ESO-188–96 in an ICS assay (only ICS results CD8+ response to this epitope (>0.1%, data not shown) in their post vaccination samples, pre- and post-vaccination PBMC samples were then expanded the same way side-by-side in a second screen intended to determine whether the response was a result of the vaccination. The peptide-specific TCD8+ in the second screen were assessed with the specific HLA-B18/NY-ESO-188–96 tetramer. Tetramer results >0.1% of total CD8+ T cells with a discrete staining pattern are shown; and those results