Cell death induced by cytotoxic CD8+ T cells is immunogenic and primes caspase-3-dependent spread immunity against endogenous tumor antigens.

Elimination of tumor cells by Ag-specific Tc cells is immunogenic and protects against tumor development by generating new Tc cells against EL4 endogenous antigens. This finding helps to explain the enhanced efficacy of T cell-dependent immunotherapy and provide a molecular basis to explain the epitope spread phenomenon observed during vaccination and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy. In addition, they suggest that caspase-3 activity in the tumor may be used as a biomarker to predict cancer recurrence during T cell-dependent immunotherapies.