Purpose-To evaluate the immunomodulatory effects of CTLA-4 blockade with tremelimumab in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Experimental Design-We used next generation sequencing to study the complementarity determining region 3 (CDR3) from the rearranged T cell receptor (TCR) variable beta (V-beta) in PBMC of 21 patients, at baseline and 30-60 days after receiving tremelimumab. Results-After receiving tremelimumab there was a median of 30% increase in unique productive sequences of TCR V-beta CDR3 in 19 out of 21 patients, and a median decrease of 30% in only 2 out of 21 patients. These changes were significant for richness (p=0.01) and for Shannon index diversity (p=0.04). In comparison, serially collected PBMC from four healthy donors did not show a significant change in TCR V-beta CDR3 diversity over one year. There was a significant difference in the total unique productive TCR V-beta CDR3 sequences between
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