T Cell Immunology

Dr. James W. Rohrer, Associate Professor, graduated with a B. A. in Zoology from the University of Kansas in 1969 and received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Kansas in 1975. He carried out his postdoctoral study at Washington University School of Medicine in the Department of Pathology under Dr. Richard G. Lynch. Dr. Rohrer was awarded a National Cancer Institute Postdoctoral Fellowship and a Leukemia Society of America Special Fellowship during his postdoctoral training. He joined the faculty at the University of South Alabama College of Medicine in 1979.

My laboratory has been characterizing the T and B lymphocyte response to immature laminin receptor protein (iLRP) during tumorigenesis for several years. iLRP was previously denoted by us as oncofetal antigen (OFA). iLRP is a 32-44 kiloDalton protein which is present in the monomeric form on early to mid-gestational fetal cells an also on all of the human and rodent tumor cells we have tested. Normal neonatal and adult cells express an acylated dimer form of LRP which is not seen by the immune system. However, iLRP is immunogenic and iLRP-specific T cells are activated during induction of tumors by carcinogens or by growth of established tumors in experimental animals. In both experimental animals and humans, iLRP-specific effector T lymphocytes capable of killing the tumor cells directly or inducing tumoricidal macrophages are induced during tumor development. However, regulatory iLRP-specific T cells that secrete the inhibitory cytokine IL-10 are also induced and they can inhibit effector T lymphocyte killing of the tumor cells. We have shown that immunization of experimental animals with autologous dendritic cells that have pulsed with iLRP or peptides thereof can block both metastasis and proliferation of injected tumor cells. We are currently involved in determining the safety and efficacy of using immature laminin receptor protein (iLRP)-pulsed autologous, mature dendritic cells as an immunotherapeutic vaccine in metastatic breast cancer patients in an FDA-approved clinical trial. We also are analyzing the iLRP-specific T lymphocyte subset dynamics induced by the iLRP-dendritic cell immunizations of the patients and also the changes in iLRP-specific IgM and IgG antibody-secreting B lymphocytes subsequent to the immunizations. This analysis of iLRP-specific lymphocyte changes during immunization may give data to explain why certain patients respond to immunization by reduced tumor burden while others show no real effect on tumor progression.

C. Zelle Rieser, A. L. Barsoum, F. Sallusto, R. Ramoner, J. W. Rohrer, L. Holtl, G. Bartsch, J. H. Coggin Jr., and M. Thurnher. Expression and immunogenicity of oncofetal antigen-immature laminin receptor in human renal cell carcinoma. J Urol 2001; 165:1705-1709.

J. W. Rohrer, A. L. Barsoum, D. L. Dyess, J. A. Tucker, and J. H. Coggin, Jr. Human breast carcinoma patients develop clonable oncofetal antigen-specific effector and regulatory T lymphocytes. J. Immunol 1999; 162:6880-6892

Coggin, J. H., Jr., A. L. Barsoum, J. W. Rohrer. 37 kiloDalton oncofetal antigen protein and immature laminin receptor protein are identical, universal T-cell inducing immunogens on primary rodent and human cancers. Anticancer Res. 1999; 19:5535-5542

J. W. Rohrer, C. Culpepper, A. Barsoum, and J. H. Coggin, Jr. Characterization of RFM mouse T lymphocyte anti-OFA immunity in apparent tumor free, long-term survivors of sublethal X-irradiation by limiting dilution T lymphocyte cloning. J. Immunol. 1995; 154:2266-2280.

J. W. Rohrer and J. H. Coggin, Jr. Non-cytotoxic CD8 T cell clones inhibit anti-tumor T cell function by secreting IL-10. J. Immunol. 1995; 155:5719-5727.