However, CD3<sup>+</sup>CD20<sup>+</sup> T cells may also play a protective role in ovarian cancer and HIV infection for their strong propensity to IFN-γ production.
Immunohistochemical analysis of ovarian cancer clinical specimens indicates that TNFSF15 expression diminishes while tumor vascularity increases in specimens with high-grades of IFNγ expression.
However, its release is inducible both by IFN-γ stimulation in vitro and by xenotransplantation of EOC cells in immune-deficient mice, suggesting a role for the microenvironment.
YTLDrDSLYV peptide-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte precursor frequency was low in peripheral blood leukocytes of normal donors and patients with ovarian cancer as determined by interferon-gamma production in ELISPOT assays.
An IFN-gamma enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot assay was used to assess immunity to these 10 epitopes in 48 patients with either breast or ovarian cancer and 18 controls.
We have found that (i) established EOC tumour cell lines expressed transcripts for transforming growth factor-beta 2 (TGF-beta2) (7/7), but not IL-10 (0/7) or interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) (0/7) and rarely IL-2 (1/7); (ii) PEC expressed transcripts for IL-2 (12/13), IL-10 (9/13), and TGF-beta2 (12/13), and less often, IFN-gamma (3/13), whereas solid tumour specimens from eight patients with EOC expressed transcripts for IL-2 (4/8), TGF-beta2 (4/8), and IL-10 (5/8), but not for IFN-gamma (0/8); (iii) CD4+ TCRalphabeta+ T cell lines expressed transcripts for IFN-gamma (4/4), IL-2 (4/4) and IL-10 (3/4), whereas CD8+ TCRalphabeta+ T cell lines expressed transcripts for IFN-gamma (5/5), IL-2 (1/5) and IL-10 (2/5).