These results indicate that in our model, while vaccination with all epitopes and full-length Mam-A DNA can induce effector CD8 T cells, Mam-A2.2 and Mam-A2.4 specific CD8 T cells have an increased capacity to be maintained and respond more effectively in subsequent tumor challenges as a result of their increased levels of CD122. The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is neoplasm.