Thus, this demanding assay system assesses the capacity of the immune cells in the individual patient's blood to pick up, process and present antigen by antigen-presenting cells (APC) in a manner triggering memory T cell activation and proliferation, and indicates whether the response is mediated by CD4+ or CD8+ T cells, and whether predominantly pro- or anti-inflammatory cytokines are produced, as well as revealing which potential tumor-associated antigens (TAA) can be recognized by the patient's T cells. The gene discussed is CD8A; the disease is neoplasm.