Draining Lymph Node Metastasis Model for Assessing the Dynamics of Antigen-Specific CD8⁺ T Cells During Tumorigenesis

Tumor antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cells from draining lymph nodes gain an accumulating importance in mounting anti-tumor immune response during tumorigenesis. However, in many cases, cancer cells form metastatic loci in lymph nodes before further metastasizing to distant organs. To what extent the local and systematic CD8⁺ T cell responses were influenced by LN metastasis remains obscure. To this end, we set up a murine LN metastasis model combined with a B16F10-GP melanoma cell line expressing the surrogate neoantigen derived from lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), glycoprotein (GP), and P14 transgenic mice harboring T cell receptors (TCRs) specific to GP-derived peptide GP_33-41 presented by the class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecule H-2D^b. This protocol enables the study of antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell responses during LN metastasis. In this protocol, C57BL/6J mice were subcutaneously implanted with B16F10-GP cells, followed by adoptive transfer with naive P14 cells. When the subcutaneous tumor grew to approximately 5 mm in diameter, the primary tumor was excised, and B16F10-GP cells were directly injected into the tumor draining lymph node (TdLN). Then, the dynamics of CD8⁺ T cells were monitored during the process of LN metastasis. Collectively, this model has provided an approach to precisely investigate the antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cell immune responses during LN metastasis.