Table 4

Development of TAA-specific T cells during therapy

Any TAA responsesAny TAA responses post-vaccination (vs pre-vaccination)
PSA11/17 (65%)
MUC-117/17 (100%)
Brachyury14/16 (88%)
1 antigen1/17 (6%)
2 antigens8/17 (47%)
3 antigens8/17 (47%)
≥2 antigens16/17 (94%)
Any antigen17/17 (100%)
Multifunctional TAA responses>3× post vs pre (or if no pre, >100/1×106 cells at post)>10× post vs pre (or if no pre, >1000/1×106 cells at post)>100x post vs pre (or if no pre, >5000/1×106 cells at post)
PSA9/17 (53%)6/17 (35%)3/17 (18%)
MUC-113/17 (76%)8/17 (47%)4/17 (23%)
Brachyury13/16 (81%)4/16 (25%)1/16 (6%)
Any antigen16/17 (94%)13/17 (76%)8/17 (47%)
  • Frequency of patients developing any CD4+ or CD8+ T-cell responses post-vaccinination (vs pre-vaccination). The absolute number of T cells producing IFN-γ, TNFα, or IL-2 or positive for the degranulation marker CD107a per 1×106 peripheral blood mononuclear cells plated at the start of the stimulation assay was calculated. Following subtraction of background and any signal obtained prior to vaccination, a patient was scored as developing any TAA-specific T-cell response during therapy if the patient had >250 CD4+ or CD8+ T cells that produced IFN-γ, TNFα, or IL-2 or were positive for CD107a at the end of the stimulation assay per 1×106 cells that were plated at the start of the assay.

  • Frequency of patients developing polyfunctional TAA responses (CD4+ and CD8+ T cells expressing two or more of the following: IFN-γ, TNFα, IL-2, or CD107a) post-vaccination versus pre-vaccination. The frequency of patients developing a >3-fold, >10-fold, and >100-fold increase in multifunctional TAA-specific T cells after (vs before) vaccination is indicated.

  • IFN-γ, interferon-γ; IL-2, interleukin-2; PSA, prostate-specific antigen; TAA, tumor-associated antigen; TNFα, tumor necrosis factor-α.