Critical role of EBNA1-specific CD4+ T cells in the control of mouse Burkitt lymphoma in vivo

CD4(+) T cells play important roles in orchestrating host immune responses against cancer and infectious diseases. Although EBV-encoded nuclear antigen 1-specific (EBNA1-specific) CD4(+) T cells have been implicated in controlling the growth of EBV-associated tumors such as Burkitt lymphoma (BL) in vitro, direct evidence for their in vivo function remains elusive due to the lack of an appropriate experimental BL model. Here, we describe the development of a mouse EBNA1-expressing BL tumor model and the identification of 2 novel MHC H-2I-A(b)-restricted T cell epitopes derived from EBNA1. Using our murine BL tumor model and the relevant peptides, we show that vaccination of mice with EBNA1 peptide-loaded DCs can elicit CD4(+) T cell responses. These EBNA1-specific CD4(+) T cells recognized peptide-pulsed targets as well as EBNA1-expressing tumor cells and were necessary and sufficient for suppressing tumor growth in vivo. By contrast, EBNA1 peptide-reactive CD8(+) T cells failed to recognize tumor cells and did not contribute to protective immunity. These studies represent what we believe to be the first demonstration that EBNA1-specific CD4(+) T cells can suppress tumor growth in vivo, which suggests that CD4(+) T cells play an important role in generating protective immunity against EBV-associated cancer.