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Page 4 of 15 Gururangan et al. Neuroimmunol Neuroinflammation 2018;5:45 I http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2347-8659.2018.44

Figure 1. Phenotypic and function changes in CD8+ T cells following antigen (Ag) stimulation [27]

venules to populate T-cell zones within regional lymph nodes and provide protection against systemic
antigen re-challenge [26,27] . These cells also have the ability to migrate to secondary lymph nodes by virtue
of these two markers and secrete IL-2. Effector memory cells on the other hand, lose expression of these
two molecules allowing them to migrate to peripheral tissues and protect against a peripheral challenge.

TCRs
The TCR is a membrane bound receptor consisting of two polypeptide heterodimers (αβ or γδ) connected
[28]
by a disulfide bond and anchored to the membrane via a protein complex called CD3 . In the α chain, the
constant region is followed by the J region whereas in the β chain there is an intervening D region between
the C and J regions. The complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) (peptide region of 15 amino acids)
[28]
consists of the VJ junction in the α chain and the VDJ junctions in the β chain . The CDR3 region confers
the area of antigen contact and specificity for the TCR and is created by random joining of the V (54 regions),
D (2 regions), and J (13 regions) genes. Further specificity is provided by random insertion and deletion
[28]
of nucleotides in the V-D, V-J, and D-J junctions of the CDR3 domain during somatic recombination .
A similar process occurs with the α chain without the D region. The TCR α and β genes are located on
chromosome 14 and 7 respectively.

ADOPTIVE T CELL THERAPIES WITH TOTAL TUMOR RNA DC VACCINES IN CHILDREN WITH

PRIMARY CNS TUMORS
Our lab has expertise in the development of ex vivo “educated” adoptive T-cell transfer along with total
tumor RNA (ttRNA) DC vaccines for the treatment of brain tumors in the context of either MA or non-
myeloablative (NMA) conditioning regimens.