Figure 4

Polyfunctional CD8⁺ T cell responses to BC-associated antigens assessed by DualSpot in HER2-positive patients during NC. a Representative histograms of the quantification of IFN-γ (gray bars), IL-2 (black bars), and IFN-γ/IL-2 (white bars) releasing CD8⁺ T cells after stimulation with four epitopes derived from four different BC-associated antigens obtained at diagnosis and during NC in one HER2-positive patient achieving a pathological complete response (BC87, pCR) and in one HER2-positive patient characterized by a partial response (BC105, pPR). Medium and PBMCs alone were used as negative controls, CEF and α–CD3 as positive controls. b Slices of cakes represent the means of the percentages of CD8+ T cells releasing IFN-γ (gray), IL-2 (black), or IFN-γ/IL-2 (white) after stimulation with all the four epitopes derived from BC-associated antigens in case of complete response (left) or partial response (right). SFC spot forming cells, pCR pathological complete response, pPR pathological partial response, W week, Sur survivin, Mam mammaglobin-A, CEF mix of peptides derived from Cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, and influenza.