Table 1. T_CD8+ response to HLA-B18/NY-ESO-1_88–96.

Group	Patients	HLA			Tetramer or ICS (% of total CD8+ T cells)		Vaccination status
		HLA-A	HLA-B	HLA-C	Pre-vac	Post-vac
NY-ESO-1 ISCOMATRIX™Vaccine	8	A68	B1801, B4402	Cw5, Cw7	0.19	1.220	Boosted
	111	A2, A3	B1801, B5101	Cw1,Cw7	2.87	3.76	Pre
	102	A3, A11	B1801, B4403	Cw7,Cw16	3.89	4.76	Pre
	109	A2	B1801, B4402	Cw5,Cw7	0.140	0.140	Pre
	12	A25, A68	B1801, B1402	Cw7,Cw8	ND	–*
Placebo controls	115	A2, A30	B1801, B3901	Cw5	ND	–*
	114	A2, A25	B1801, B3701	Cw6	ND	–*
	29	A1, A31	B18, B27	Cw2,Cw6	ND	–*
	113	A3, A25	B18, B7	Cw7,	ND	–*

Melanoma patients from three clinical trials (see Materials and Methods) with detectable anti-NY-ESO-1 antibody responses and HLA-B18 expression were selected for the screen. T cells from PBMC samples post vaccination (or placebo controls that did not receive the NY-ESO-1 ISCOMATRIX™ vaccine but received diluents) were expanded with 18 mer NY-ESO-1_79–96 peptide for 12∼15 days and assessed with NY-ESO-1_88–96 in an ICS assay (only ICS results <0.1% are shown as negative “–” indicated by ‘*’). For patients who showed positive T_CD8+ response to this epitope (>0.1%, data not shown) in their post vaccination samples, pre- and post-vaccination PBMC samples were then expanded the same way side-by-side in a second screen intended to determine whether the response was a result of the vaccination. The peptide-specific T_CD8+ in the second screen were assessed with the specific HLA-B18/NY-ESO-1_88–96 tetramer. Tetramer results >0.1% of total CD8⁺ T cells with a discrete staining pattern are shown; and those results <0.1% are shown as “-”. Pre – pre-existed response; Boosted – vaccine-boosted response; ND – not determined, Pre-vac, prior to vaccination; Post-vac, after vaccination.