Antigen-specific central-memory t cell preparations having high cd4+ fraction

A method for generation of T cell preparations that are specific for at least one target antigen, comprising the steps of:

• expanding lymphoid cells in vitro in the presence of a target antigen or peptide fragments thereof in an expansion step, yielding a first T cell preparation;
• isolating responding cells from the first T cell preparation in an isolation step, yielding a second T cell preparation;
• culturing, in a culturing step, the cells obtained as second T cell preparation in the presence of a cytokine, preferably interleukin 2 and/or interleukin 7, and
• i. an inhibitor of the mTOR Complex 1, preferably rapamycin or a rapamycin analogue, or
• ii. an inhibitor of interleukin 2 (IL-2)—interleukin-2-receptor (IL-2R) interaction.