Figure 7.
Increased amplitude of the TGF-β-15 specific immune response through repeated in vitro stimulations. (A) PBMC from 16 patients with pancreatic cancer with a weak TGF-β-15 response were cultured in vitro and tested for response to TGF-β-15 after one in vitro stimulation with TGF-β-15 peptide or after three in vitro stimulations with TGF-β-15 peptide with normalized responses shown in a heatmap (top) and representative responses after one stimulation and three stimulations (bottom). Some cultures only received two in vitro stimulations denoted by a black star next to spot count. (B) The ability of repeated stimulations to enhance the TGF-β-15 specific immune response was analyzed in PBMC from seven healthy donors as described in A using 5–6×105 cells/well with normalized results (top) and representative responses (bottom). (C) The ability of repeated stimulations to enhance the TGF-β-15 specific immune response was analyzed in PBMC from 15 healthy donors as described in A using 2×105 cells/well with normalized results (top) and representative responses (bottom). PBMC, peripheral blood mononuclear cell; TGF-β, transforming growth factor-β.