Different lineages of P1A-expressing cancer cells use divergent modes of immune evasion for T-cell adoptive therapy

Tumor evasion of T-cell immunity remains a significant obstacle to adoptive T-cell therapy. It is unknown whether the mode of immune evasion is dictated by the cancer cells or by the tumor antigens. Taking advantage of the fact that multiple lineages of tumor cells share the tumor antigen PIA, we adoptively transferred transgenic T cells specific for PIA (P1CTL) into mice with established PIA-expressing tumors, including mastocytoma P815, plasmocytoma J558, and fibrosarcoma Meth A. Although P1CTL conferred partial protection, tumors recurred in almost all mice. Analysis of the status of the tumor antigen revealed that all J558 tumors underwent antigenic drift whereas all P815 tumors experienced antigenic loss. Interestingly, although Meth A cells are capable of both antigenic loss and antigenic drift, the majority of recurrent Meth A tumors retained PIA antigen. The ability of Meth A to induce apoptosis of P1CTL in vivo alleviated the need for antigenic drift and antigenic loss. Our data showed that, in spite of their shared tumor antigen, different lineages of cancer cells use different mechanisms to evade T-cell therapy.