Blood T-cell Vβ transcriptome in melanoma patients

Tumor-cells have been shown to elicit MHC-restricted and antigen-specific T-cell responses. In this article, we used a new approach to study T-cell responses in tumor-bearing patients based on a global representation of the Vβ-transcriptome, making it possible to grade CDR3-length distribution (CDR3-LD) alterations. Six patients with advanced melanoma disease, from whom blood samples were taken before and serially after tyrosinase-A peptide vaccination, were studied. The PBMC from patients displayed highly significant Vβ transcriptome alterations as compared to healthy individuals. Similar Vβ alterations could be detected both in PBMCs and at the tumor site. After vaccination, Vβ alteration…