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Characterization Of Differentiation And Prognostic Biomarkers On Cd8+ Tumor-Infiltrating Lymphocytes In Metastatic Melanoma, Richard C. Wu

Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)

CD8⁺ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) frequently infiltrate tumors, yet most melanoma patients fail to undergo tumor regression. We studied the differentiation of the CD8⁺ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) from 44 metastatic melanoma patients using known T-cell differentiation markers. We also compared CD8⁺ TIL against the T cells from matched melanoma patients’ peripheral blood. We discovered a novel subset of CD8⁺ TIL co-expressing early-differentiation markers, CD27, CD28, and a late/senescent CTL differentiation marker, CD57. This CD8⁺CD57⁺ TIL expressed a cytolytic enzyme, granzyme B (GB), yet did not express another cytolytic pore-forming molecule, perforin (Perf). In …