Isolation and expansion of allogeneic myeloma-specific interferon-gamma producing T cells for adoptive immunotherapy.

Adoptive immunotherapy is a promising approach in the treatment of multiple myeloma. We have tested the identification, separation, and expansion of allogeneic myeloma-specific T cells in vitro. Irradiated myeloma cell line ARH 77 has been used to stimulate allogeneic CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes. Activated myeloma-specific T cells that produced interferon-gamma were isolated using immunomagnetic beads and further expanded in vitro to numbers of up to 400 x 106 T cells. Specificity of the T lymphocytes was tested using a 5-(6-)carboxyfluoresceine diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE)-based cytotoxicity test. This study demonstrates the feasibility of identification and isolation of tumor-specific T cells from allogeneic donors that can be expanded in vitro to numbers useful for clinical applications.