Comprehensive analysis of the α-Fetoprotein specific CD8+ T cell responses in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fifth most common malignancy worldwide. It has a poor prognosis and only limited therapeutic options are currently available. Thus, the development of new immunotherapeutic strategies is of high clinical priority. α-Fetoprotein (AFP) may be a feasible target antigen since it is highly expressed in the majority of HCCs and since priming of immune responses against AFP results in significant protective antitumoral T-cell responses in the mouse model. However, very little information is available about the hierarchy, breadth, frequency and peripheral versus intrahepatic distrib…