Characterization of T-Cell Receptor Vβ Repertoire in Ovarian Tumour-Reacting CD3+ CD8+ CD4− CTL Lines

T cells from tumour infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) cultured in media containing IL-2 were shown to mediate in vitro and in vivo antitumour responses. To characterize the T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) Vβ expression in autologous cytotoxic effectors we isolated CD3⁺ CD8⁺ CD4⁻ cells from cultures of TIL and tumour-associated lymphocytes (TAL) and analysed the TCR Vβ repertoire of CD3⁺ CD8⁺ CD4⁻ lines of known HLA-A, -B and -C phenotype, using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These lines showed preferential lysis of autologous tumours and lysed, to a much lesser extent, NK and LAK cellsensitive targets. Tumour lysis was inhibited by antibodies to CD3 and MHC class I antigens indicating that they are cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). These CD8⁺ CTL lines expressed a broad distribution of TCR Vβ repertoire which was dominated by particular groups of Vβ families in each CTL line. However, no predominant expression of one or the same Vβ segment in all CTL lines was observed although statistical correlations between Vβ family usage and magnitude of the antitumour cytolytic response were found. These results suggest that certain TCR Vβ families may be selected by antigen in ovarian tumour-reactive T cells and this selection may be affected by Ag expression, and/or host factors. To our knowledge, this is the first documentation of TCR Vβ repertoire of human ovarian tumour-reactive CD3⁺ CD8⁺ CD4⁻ CTL from different individuals of known HLA types.