Effects of Altered Antigen Processing on T-Cell Responses Toward Murine T-Lymphomas

The BW tumor model consists of variants that were derived from the AKR (H-2k) T-cell lymphoma BW 5147 [1] and for which a correlation was found between expression of MHC class I antigens and malignancy. In particular, H-2Kk antigens were found to function as classical restriction elements, presenting antigenic peptides to CD8 + cytotoxic T cells (CTLs). Hence, an increased expression of H-2Kk is correlated with an increased immunogenicity of the BW cancer cells, resulting in a reduced tumor growth and metastatic potential upon subcutaneous (s.c.) inoculation. [2].