1
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Kath J, Franke C, Drosdek V, Du W, Glaser V, Fuster-Garcia C, Stein M, Zittel T, Schulenberg S, Porter CE, Andersch L, Künkele A, Alcaniz J, Hoffmann J, Abken H, Abou-El-Enein M, Pruß A, Suzuki M, Cathomen T, Stripecke R, Volk HD, Reinke P, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Wagner DL. Integration of ζ-deficient CARs into the CD3-zeta gene conveys potent cytotoxicity in T and NK cells. Blood 2024:blood.2023020973. [PMID: 38493479 DOI: 10.1182/blood.2023020973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2023] [Revised: 02/27/2024] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 03/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-redirected immune cells hold significant therapeutic potential for oncology, autoimmune diseases, transplant medicine, and infections. All approved CAR-T therapies rely on personalized manufacturing using undirected viral gene transfer, which results in non-physiological regulation of CAR-signaling and limits their accessibility due to logistical challenges, high costs and biosafety requirements. Random gene transfer modalities pose a risk of malignant transformation by insertional mutagenesis. Here, we propose a novel approach utilizing CRISPR-Cas gene editing to redirect T-cells and natural killer (NK) cells with CARs. By transferring shorter, truncated CAR-transgenes lacking a main activation domain into the human CD3ζ (CD247) gene, functional CAR fusion-genes are generated that exploit the endogenous CD3ζ gene as the CAR's activation domain. Repurposing this T/NK-cell lineage gene facilitated physiological regulation of CAR-expression and redirection of various immune cell types, including conventional T-cells, TCRγ/δ T-cells, regulatory T-cells, and NK-cells. In T-cells, CD3ζ in-frame fusion eliminated TCR surface expression, reducing the risk of graft-versus-host disease in allogeneic off-the-shelf settings. CD3ζ-CD19-CAR-T-cells exhibited comparable leukemia control to T cell receptor alpha constant (TRAC)-replaced and lentivirus-transduced CAR-T-cells in vivo. Tuning of CD3ζ-CAR-expression levels significantly improved the in vivo efficacy. Notably, CD3ζ gene editing enabled redirection of NK-cells without impairing their canonical functions. Thus, CD3ζ gene editing is a promising platform for the development of allogeneic off-the-shelf cell therapies using redirected killer lymphocytes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Kath
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | - Weijie Du
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Viktor Glaser
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Maik Stein
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Sarah Schulenberg
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charite Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Joshua Alcaniz
- Experimental Pharmacology & Oncology Berlin Buch GmbH, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jens Hoffmann
- Experimental Pharmacology & Oncology Berlin Buch GmbH, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Mohamed Abou-El-Enein
- Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States
| | - Axel Pruß
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Toni Cathomen
- Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany
| | | | | | - Petra Reinke
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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Drzeniek NM, Kahwaji N, Picht S, Dimitriou IM, Schlickeiser S, Moradian H, Geissler S, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Gossen M, Volk HD. In Vitro Transcribed mRNA Immunogenicity Induces Chemokine-Mediated Lymphocyte Recruitment and Can Be Gradually Tailored by Uridine Modification. Adv Sci (Weinh) 2024:e2308447. [PMID: 38491873 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202308447] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2023] [Revised: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024]
Abstract
Beyond SARS-CoV2 vaccines, mRNA drugs are being explored to overcome today's greatest healthcare burdens, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. Synthetic mRNA triggers immune responses in transfected cells, which can be reduced by chemically modified nucleotides. However, the side effects of mRNA-triggered immune activation on cell function and how different nucleotides, such as the N1-methylpseudouridine (m1Ψ) used in SARS-CoV2 vaccines, can modulate cellular responses is not fully understood. Here, cellular responses toward a library of uridine-modified mRNAs are investigated in primary human cells. Targeted proteomics analyses reveal that unmodified mRNA induces a pro-inflammatory paracrine pattern marked by the secretion of chemokines, which recruit T and B lymphocytes toward transfected cells. Importantly, the magnitude of mRNA-induced changes in cell function varies quantitatively between unmodified, Ψ-, m1Ψ-, and 5moU-modified mRNA and can be gradually tailored, with implications for deliberately exploiting this effect in mRNA drug design. Indeed, both the immunosuppressive effect of stromal cells on T-cell proliferation, and the anti-inflammatory effect of IL-10 mRNA are enhanced by appropriate uridine modification. The results provide new insights into the effects of mRNA drugs on cell function and cell-cell communication and open new possibilities to tailor mRNA-triggered immune activation to the desired pro- or anti-inflammatory application.
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Affiliation(s)
- Norman M Drzeniek
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universitaet Berlin and Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Föhrer Straße 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Nourhan Kahwaji
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Föhrer Straße 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Samira Picht
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Föhrer Straße 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies (BSRT; graduate school 203 of the German Excellence Initiative), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Ioanna Maria Dimitriou
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Föhrer Straße 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies (BSRT; graduate school 203 of the German Excellence Initiative), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Julius Wolff Institute (JWI), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Biology, Chemistry, Pharmacy, Institute of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Freie Universität Berlin, Thielallee 63, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Stephan Schlickeiser
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universitaet Berlin and Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Föhrer Straße 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- CheckImmune GmbH, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hanieh Moradian
- Institute of Active Polymers, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Kantstraße 55, 14513, Teltow, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Sven Geissler
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Föhrer Straße 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Julius Wolff Institute (JWI), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Föhrer Straße 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Manfred Gossen
- Institute of Active Polymers, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Kantstraße 55, 14513, Teltow, Germany
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universitaet Berlin and Humboldt-Universitaet zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Föhrer Straße 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- CheckImmune GmbH, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
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3
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Cavazza A, Hendel A, Bak RO, Rio P, Güell M, Lainšček D, Arechavala-Gomeza V, Peng L, Hapil FZ, Harvey J, Ortega FG, Gonzalez-Martinez C, Lederer CW, Mikkelsen K, Gasiunas G, Kalter N, Gonçalves MA, Petersen J, Garanto A, Montoliu L, Maresca M, Seemann SE, Gorodkin J, Mazini L, Sanchez R, Rodriguez-Madoz JR, Maldonado-Pérez N, Laura T, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Maccalli C, Grünewald J, Carmona G, Kachamakova-Trojanowska N, Miccio A, Martin F, Turchiano G, Cathomen T, Luo Y, Tsai SQ, Benabdellah K. Progress and harmonization of gene editing to treat human diseases: Proceeding of COST Action CA21113 GenE-HumDi. Mol Ther Nucleic Acids 2023; 34:102066. [PMID: 38034032 PMCID: PMC10685310 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtn.2023.102066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/02/2023]
Abstract
The European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) is an intergovernmental organization dedicated to funding and coordinating scientific and technological research in Europe, fostering collaboration among researchers and institutions across countries. Recently, COST Action funded the "Genome Editing to treat Human Diseases" (GenE-HumDi) network, uniting various stakeholders such as pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, regulatory agencies, biotech firms, and patient advocacy groups. GenE-HumDi's primary objective is to expedite the application of genome editing for therapeutic purposes in treating human diseases. To achieve this goal, GenE-HumDi is organized in several working groups, each focusing on specific aspects. These groups aim to enhance genome editing technologies, assess delivery systems, address safety concerns, promote clinical translation, and develop regulatory guidelines. The network seeks to establish standard procedures and guidelines for these areas to standardize scientific practices and facilitate knowledge sharing. Furthermore, GenE-HumDi aims to communicate its findings to the public in accessible yet rigorous language, emphasizing genome editing's potential to revolutionize the treatment of many human diseases. The inaugural GenE-HumDi meeting, held in Granada, Spain, in March 2023, featured presentations from experts in the field, discussing recent breakthroughs in delivery methods, safety measures, clinical translation, and regulatory aspects related to gene editing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessia Cavazza
- Infection, Immunity and Inflammation Research and Teaching Department, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, WC1N 1EH London, UK
| | - Ayal Hendel
- Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
| | - Rasmus O. Bak
- Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Paula Rio
- Hematopoietic Innovative Therapies Division, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIEMAT/CIBERER), 28040 Madrid, Spain
- Advanced Therapies Unit, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Fundación Jiménez Díaz (IIS-FJD, UAM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
| | - Marc Güell
- Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
- Integra Therapeutics S.L., Barcelona, Spain
| | - Duško Lainšček
- Department of Synthetic Biology and Immunology, National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
| | - Virginia Arechavala-Gomeza
- Nucleic Acid Therapeutics for Rare Disorders (NAT-RD), Biobizkaia Health Research Institute, Barakaldo, Spain
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Ling Peng
- Aix Marseille University, CNRS, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille, UMR 7325, Equipe Labellisée Ligue Contre le Cancer, 13288 Marseille, France
| | - Fatma Zehra Hapil
- Department of Medical Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey
| | - Joshua Harvey
- Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Francisco G. Ortega
- GENYO, Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research, Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government, Avenida de la Ilustración 114, 18016 Granada, Spain
- IBS Granada, Institute of Biomedical Research, Avenida de Madrid 15, 18012 Granada, Spain
| | - Coral Gonzalez-Martinez
- GENYO, Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research, Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government, Avenida de la Ilustración 114, 18016 Granada, Spain
- IBS Granada, Institute of Biomedical Research, Avenida de Madrid 15, 18012 Granada, Spain
| | - Carsten W. Lederer
- Department of Molecular Genetics Thalassaemia, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus
| | - Kasper Mikkelsen
- Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | | | - Nechama Kalter
- Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
| | - Manuel A.F.V. Gonçalves
- Department of Cell and Chemical Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Einthovenweg 20, 2333 ZC Leiden, the Netherlands
| | - Julie Petersen
- Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus, Aarhus University Hospital, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark
| | - Alejandro Garanto
- Department of Pediatrics and Department of Human Genetics, Amalia Children’s Hospital, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
| | - Lluis Montoliu
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC) and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER-ISCIII), Madrid, Spain
| | - Marcello Maresca
- Genome Engineering, Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D Unit, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Stefan E. Seemann
- Center for Non-coding RNA in Technology and Health, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Jan Gorodkin
- Center for Non-coding RNA in Technology and Health, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Loubna Mazini
- Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Technologic, Medical and Academic Park (TMAP), Marrakech, Morocco
| | - Rosario Sanchez
- GENYO, Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research, Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government, PTS Granada, Granada, Spain
- Department of Medicinal & Organic Chemistry and Excellence Research Unit of "Chemistry Applied to Biomedicine and the Environment," Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja s/n, Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria de Granada (ibs.GRANADA), Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - Juan R. Rodriguez-Madoz
- Cancer Center Clinica Universidad de Navarra (CCUN), Pamplona, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cancer (CIBERONC), Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Torella Laura
- DNA & RNA Medicine Division, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) Universidad de Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Institute for Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Cristina Maccalli
- Laboratory of Immune Biological Therapy, Research Branch, Sidra Medicine, PO Box 26999, Doha, Qatar
| | - Julian Grünewald
- Department of Medicine, Cardiology, Angiology, Pneumology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Medicine and Health, TranslaTUM, MIBE, Munich, Germany
- Center for Organoid Systems, Munich, Germany
| | - Gloria Carmona
- Red Andaluza de diseño y traslación de Terapias Avanzadas-RAdytTA, Fundación Pública Andaluza Progreso y Salud-FPS, Sevilla, España
| | | | - Annarita Miccio
- Imagine Institute, Laboratory of Chromatin and Gene Regulation During Development, Université de Paris Cité, INSERM UMR 1163, 75015 Paris, France
| | - Francisco Martin
- Bioquímica y Biología Molecular III e Immunology Department, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Granada and Department of Genomic Medicine, Pfizer-University of Granada-Andalusian Regional Government Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research (GENYO), PTS, Av. de la Ilustración 114, 18016 Granada, Spain
| | - Giandomenico Turchiano
- Infection, Immunity and Inflammation Research and Teaching Department, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, WC1N 1EH London, UK
| | - Toni Cathomen
- Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Gene Therapy, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Yonglun Luo
- Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
- Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus, Aarhus University Hospital, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark
| | - Shengdar Q. Tsai
- Department of Hematology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
| | - Karim Benabdellah
- Department of Genomic Medicine, Pfizer-University of Granada-Andalusian Regional Government Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research (GENYO), PTS, Av. de la Ilustración 114, 18016 Granada, Spain
| | - on behalf of the COST Action CA21113
- Infection, Immunity and Inflammation Research and Teaching Department, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, WC1N 1EH London, UK
- Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, The Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan 52900, Israel
- Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
- Hematopoietic Innovative Therapies Division, Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas Medioambientales y Tecnológicas and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIEMAT/CIBERER), 28040 Madrid, Spain
- Advanced Therapies Unit, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Fundación Jiménez Díaz (IIS-FJD, UAM), 28040 Madrid, Spain
- Department of Medicine and Life Sciences, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
- Integra Therapeutics S.L., Barcelona, Spain
- Department of Synthetic Biology and Immunology, National Institute of Chemistry, Hajdrihova 19, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Nucleic Acid Therapeutics for Rare Disorders (NAT-RD), Biobizkaia Health Research Institute, Barakaldo, Spain
- Ikerbasque, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
- Aix Marseille University, CNRS, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille, UMR 7325, Equipe Labellisée Ligue Contre le Cancer, 13288 Marseille, France
- Department of Medical Biology and Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey
- Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London, London, UK
- GENYO, Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research, Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government, Avenida de la Ilustración 114, 18016 Granada, Spain
- IBS Granada, Institute of Biomedical Research, Avenida de Madrid 15, 18012 Granada, Spain
- Department of Molecular Genetics Thalassaemia, The Cyprus Institute of Neurology and Genetics, Nicosia, Cyprus
- CasZyme, 10224 Vilnius, Lithuania
- Department of Cell and Chemical Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, Einthovenweg 20, 2333 ZC Leiden, the Netherlands
- Department of Pediatrics and Department of Human Genetics, Amalia Children’s Hospital, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Centre for Biotechnology (CNB-CSIC) and Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER-ISCIII), Madrid, Spain
- Genome Engineering, Discovery Sciences, BioPharmaceuticals R&D Unit, AstraZeneca, Gothenburg, Sweden
- Center for Non-coding RNA in Technology and Health, Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Technologic, Medical and Academic Park (TMAP), Marrakech, Morocco
- GENYO, Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research, Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government, PTS Granada, Granada, Spain
- Department of Medicinal & Organic Chemistry and Excellence Research Unit of "Chemistry Applied to Biomedicine and the Environment," Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Campus de Cartuja s/n, Granada, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Biosanitaria de Granada (ibs.GRANADA), Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
- Cancer Center Clinica Universidad de Navarra (CCUN), Pamplona, Spain
- Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Cancer (CIBERONC), Madrid, Spain
- DNA & RNA Medicine Division, Center for Applied Medical Research (CIMA) Universidad de Navarra, 31008 Pamplona, Spain
- Berlin Institute for Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
- Laboratory of Immune Biological Therapy, Research Branch, Sidra Medicine, PO Box 26999, Doha, Qatar
- Department of Medicine, Cardiology, Angiology, Pneumology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technical University of Munich, TUM School of Medicine and Health, TranslaTUM, MIBE, Munich, Germany
- Center for Organoid Systems, Munich, Germany
- Red Andaluza de diseño y traslación de Terapias Avanzadas-RAdytTA, Fundación Pública Andaluza Progreso y Salud-FPS, Sevilla, España
- Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, 30-387 Krakow, Poland
- Imagine Institute, Laboratory of Chromatin and Gene Regulation During Development, Université de Paris Cité, INSERM UMR 1163, 75015 Paris, France
- Bioquímica y Biología Molecular III e Immunology Department, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Granada and Department of Genomic Medicine, Pfizer-University of Granada-Andalusian Regional Government Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research (GENYO), PTS, Av. de la Ilustración 114, 18016 Granada, Spain
- Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Gene Therapy, Medical Center-University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Medical Faculty, University of Freiburg, 79106 Freiburg, Germany
- Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus, Aarhus University Hospital, 8200 Aarhus N, Denmark
- Department of Hematology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
- Department of Genomic Medicine, Pfizer-University of Granada-Andalusian Regional Government Centre for Genomics and Oncological Research (GENYO), PTS, Av. de la Ilustración 114, 18016 Granada, Spain
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4
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Kath J, Franke C, Drosdek V, Du W, Glaser V, Fuster-Garcia C, Stein M, Zittel T, Schulenberg S, Porter CE, Andersch L, Künkele A, Alcaniz J, Hoffmann J, Abken H, Abou-El-Enein M, Pruß A, Suzuki M, Cathomen T, Stripecke R, Volk HD, Reinke P, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Wagner DL. Integration of ζ-deficient CARs into the CD3-zeta gene conveys potent cytotoxicity in T and NK cells. bioRxiv 2023:2023.11.10.565518. [PMID: 38116030 PMCID: PMC10729737 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.10.565518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2023]
Abstract
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-reprogrammed immune cells hold significant therapeutic potential for oncology, autoimmune diseases, transplant medicine, and infections. All approved CAR-T therapies rely on personalized manufacturing using undirected viral gene transfer, which results in non-physiological regulation of CAR-signaling and limits their accessibility due to logistical challenges, high costs and biosafety requirements. Here, we propose a novel approach utilizing CRISPR-Cas gene editing to redirect T cells and natural killer (NK) cells with CARs. By transferring shorter, truncated CAR-transgenes lacking a main activation domain into the human CD3 ζ (CD247) gene, functional CAR fusion-genes are generated that exploit the endogenous CD3 ζ gene as the CAR's activation domain. Repurposing this T/NK-cell lineage gene facilitated physiological regulation of CAR-expression and reprogramming of various immune cell types, including conventional T cells, TCRγ/δ T cells, regulatory T cells, and NK cells. In T cells, CD3 ζ in-frame fusion eliminated TCR surface expression, reducing the risk of graft-versus-host disease in allogeneic off-the-shelf settings. CD3 ζ-CD19-CAR-T cells exhibited comparable leukemia control to T cell receptor alpha constant ( TRAC )-replaced and lentivirus-transduced CAR-T cells in vivo . Tuning of CD3 ζ-CAR-expression levels significantly improved the in vivo efficacy. Compared to TRAC -edited CAR-T cells, integration of a Her2-CAR into CD3 ζ conveyed similar in vitro tumor lysis but reduced susceptibility to activation-induced cell death and differentiation, presumably due to lower CAR-expression levels. Notably, CD3 ζ gene editing enabled reprogramming of NK cells without impairing their canonical functions. Thus, CD3 ζ gene editing is a promising platform for the development of allogeneic off-the-shelf cell therapies using redirected killer lymphocytes. Key points Integration of ζ-deficient CARs into CD3 ζ gene allows generation of functional TCR-ablated CAR-T cells for allogeneic off-the-shelf use CD3 ζ-editing platform allows CAR reprogramming of NK cells without affecting their canonical functions.
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5
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Kath J, Du W, Martini S, Elsallab M, Franke C, Hartmann LM, Drosdek V, Glaser V, Stein M, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Reinke P, Volk HD, Abou-El-Enein M, Wagner DL. CAR NK-92 cell-mediated depletion of residual TCR+ cells for ultra-pure allogeneic TCR-deleted CAR T-cell products. Blood Adv 2023:495855. [PMID: 37196643 PMCID: PMC10388728 DOI: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2022009397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2022] [Revised: 03/21/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/19/2023] Open
Abstract
Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a major risk upon administration of allogeneic Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) redirected T cells to HLA-unmatched patients. Gene editing can be used to disrupt potentially alloreactive T cell receptors (TCRs) in CAR T cells and reduce the risk of GvHD. Despite the high knock-out rates achieved with optimized methods, a subsequent purification step is necessary to obtain a safe allogeneic product. To date, magnetic cell separation (MACS) has been the gold standard to purify TCRα/β- CAR T cells, but product purity can still be insufficient to prevent GvHD. We have developed a novel, highly efficient approach to eliminate residual TCR/CD3+ T cells after TCRα constant (TRAC) gene editing by adding a genetically modified CD3-specific CAR NK-92 cell line during ex vivo expansion. Two consecutive co-cultures with irradiated, short-lived, CAR NK-92 cells allow the production of TCR- CAR T cells with less than 0.01% TCR+ T cells, marking a 45-fold reduction of TCR+ cells compared to MACS-purification. Through an NK-92 cell-mediated feeder effect and by circumventing MACS-associated cell loss, our approach increases the total TCR- CAR T cell yield approximately 3-fold, while retaining cytotoxic activity and a favorable T cell phenotype. Scaling in the semi-closed G-Rex® bioreactor device provides proof-of-principle for large-batch manufacturing to allow for an improved cost-per-dose ratio. Overall, this cell-mediated purification method has the potential to advance the production process of safe off-the-shelf CAR T cells for clinical applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Kath
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Weijie Du
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Magdi Elsallab
- Cellular Immunotherapy Program, Cancer Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, United States
| | | | | | | | - Viktor Glaser
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | - Petra Reinke
- Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
| | - Mohamed Abou-El-Enein
- Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, United States
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6
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Glaser V, Flugel C, Kath J, Du W, Drosdek V, Franke C, Stein M, Pruß A, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Volk HD, Reinke P, Wagner DL. Combining different CRISPR nucleases for simultaneous knock-in and base editing prevents translocations in multiplex-edited CAR T cells. Genome Biol 2023; 24:89. [PMID: 37095570 PMCID: PMC10123993 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-023-02928-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/21/2022] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 04/26/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Multiple genetic modifications may be required to develop potent off-the-shelf chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies. Conventional CRISPR-Cas nucleases install sequence-specific DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), enabling gene knock-out or targeted transgene knock-in. However, simultaneous DSBs provoke a high rate of genomic rearrangements which may impede the safety of the edited cells. RESULTS Here, we combine a non-viral CRISPR-Cas9 nuclease-assisted knock-in and Cas9-derived base editing technology for DSB free knock-outs within a single intervention. We demonstrate efficient insertion of a CAR into the T cell receptor alpha constant (TRAC) gene, along with two knock-outs that silence major histocompatibility complexes (MHC) class I and II expression. This approach reduces translocations to 1.4% of edited cells. Small insertions and deletions at the base editing target sites indicate guide RNA exchange between the editors. This is overcome by using CRISPR enzymes of distinct evolutionary origins. Combining Cas12a Ultra for CAR knock-in and a Cas9-derived base editor enables the efficient generation of triple-edited CAR T cells with a translocation frequency comparable to unedited T cells. Resulting TCR- and MHC-negative CAR T cells resist allogeneic T cell targeting in vitro. CONCLUSIONS We outline a solution for non-viral CAR gene transfer and efficient gene silencing using different CRISPR enzymes for knock-in and base editing to prevent translocations. This single-step procedure may enable safer multiplex-edited cell products and demonstrates a path towards off-the-shelf CAR therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Viktor Glaser
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Christian Flugel
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jonas Kath
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Weijie Du
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Vanessa Drosdek
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Clemens Franke
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Maik Stein
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Axel Pruß
- Institute of Transfusion Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- CheckImmune GmbH, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Dimitrios L Wagner
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany.
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany.
- Institute of Transfusion Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany.
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany.
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7
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Thieme CJ, Schulz M, Wehler P, Anft M, Amini L, Blàzquez-Navarro A, Stervbo U, Hecht J, Nienen M, Stittrich AB, Choi M, Zgoura P, Viebahn R, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Reinke P, Westhoff TH, Roch T, Babel N. In vitro and in vivo evidence that the switch from calcineurin to mTOR inhibitors may be a strategy for immunosuppression in Epstein-Barr virus-associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder. Kidney Int 2022; 102:1392-1408. [PMID: 36103953 DOI: 10.1016/j.kint.2022.08.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2022] [Revised: 08/02/2022] [Accepted: 08/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder is a life-threatening complication of immunosuppression following transplantation mediated by failure of T cells to control Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-infected and transformed B cells. Typically, a modification or reduction of immunosuppression is recommended, but insufficiently defined thus far. In order to help delineate this, we characterized EBV-antigen-specific T cells and lymphoblastoid cell lines from healthy donors and in patients with a kidney transplant in the absence or presence of the standard immunosuppressants tacrolimus, cyclosporin A, prednisolone, rapamycin, and mycophenolic acid. Phenotypes of lymphoblastoid cell-lines and T cells, T cell-receptor-repertoire diversity, and T-cell reactivity upon co-culture with autologous lymphoblastoid cell lines were analyzed. Rapamycin and mycophenolic acid inhibited lymphoblastoid cell-line proliferation. T cells treated with prednisolone and rapamycin showed nearly normal cytokine production. Proliferation and the viability of T cells were decreased by mycophenolic acid, while tacrolimus and cyclosporin A were strong suppressors of T-cell function including their killing activity. Overall, our study provides a basis for the clinical decision for the modification and reduction of immunosuppression and adds information to the complex balance of maintaining anti-viral immunity while preventing acute rejection. Thus, an immunosuppressive regime based on mTOR inhibition and reduced or withdrawn calcineurin inhibitors could be a promising strategy for patients with increased risk of or manifested EBV-associated post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Constantin J Thieme
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Malissa Schulz
- Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin (HTW), Berlin, Germany
| | - Patrizia Wehler
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Moritz Anft
- Center for Translational Medicine and Immune Diagnostics Laboratory, Medical Department I, Marien Hospital Herne, Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Leila Amini
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Arturo Blàzquez-Navarro
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Center for Translational Medicine and Immune Diagnostics Laboratory, Medical Department I, Marien Hospital Herne, Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Ulrik Stervbo
- Center for Translational Medicine and Immune Diagnostics Laboratory, Medical Department I, Marien Hospital Herne, Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Jochen Hecht
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain; Experimental and Health Sciences Department, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Mikalai Nienen
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Mira Choi
- Department of Nephrology and Medical Intensive Care, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Panagiota Zgoura
- Center for Translational Medicine and Immune Diagnostics Laboratory, Medical Department I, Marien Hospital Herne, Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Richard Viebahn
- Department of Surgery, University Hospital Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Timm H Westhoff
- Center for Translational Medicine and Immune Diagnostics Laboratory, Medical Department I, Marien Hospital Herne, Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Toralf Roch
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Center for Translational Medicine and Immune Diagnostics Laboratory, Medical Department I, Marien Hospital Herne, Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Nina Babel
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Center for Translational Medicine and Immune Diagnostics Laboratory, Medical Department I, Marien Hospital Herne, Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany.
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8
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Peter L, Wendering DJ, Schlickeiser S, Hoffmann H, Noster R, Wagner DL, Zarrinrad G, Münch S, Picht S, Schulenberg S, Moradian H, Mashreghi MF, Klein O, Gossen M, Roch T, Babel N, Reinke P, Volk HD, Amini L, Schmueck-Henneresse M. Tacrolimus-resistant SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell products to prevent and treat severe COVID-19 in immunosuppressed patients. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev 2022; 25:52-73. [PMID: 35252469 PMCID: PMC8882037 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtm.2022.02.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Accepted: 02/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
Solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients receive therapeutic immunosuppression that compromises their immune response to infections and vaccines. For this reason, SOT patients have a high risk of developing severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and an increased risk of death from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Moreover, the efficiency of immunotherapies and vaccines is reduced due to the constant immunosuppression in this patient group. Here, we propose adoptive transfer of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells made resistant to a common immunosuppressant, tacrolimus, for optimized performance in the immunosuppressed patient. Using a ribonucleoprotein approach of CRISPR-Cas9 technology, we have generated tacrolimus-resistant SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell products from convalescent donors and demonstrate their specificity and function through characterizations at the single-cell level, including flow cytometry, single-cell RNA (scRNA) Cellular Indexing of Transcriptomes and Epitopes (CITE), and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing analyses. Based on the promising results, we aim for clinical validation of this approach in transplant recipients. Additionally, we propose a combinatory approach with tacrolimus, to prevent an overshooting immune response manifested as bystander T cell activation in the setting of severe COVID-19 immunopathology, and tacrolimus-resistant SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell products, allowing for efficient clearance of viral infection. Our strategy has the potential to prevent severe COVID-19 courses in SOT or autoimmunity settings and to prevent immunopathology while providing viral clearance in severe non-transplant COVID-19 cases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lena Peter
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Einstein Center for Regenerative Therapies at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Désirée Jacqueline Wendering
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Stephan Schlickeiser
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Henrike Hoffmann
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Rebecca Noster
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Dimitrios Laurin Wagner
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany.,Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany.,Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Transfusion Medicine, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Ghazaleh Zarrinrad
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Einstein Center for Regenerative Therapies at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Sandra Münch
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Samira Picht
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Sarah Schulenberg
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Einstein Center for Regenerative Therapies at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Hanieh Moradian
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Institute of Active Polymers, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Kantstr. 55, 14513 Teltow, Germany.,Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
| | - Mir-Farzin Mashreghi
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin, a Leibniz Institute, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Oliver Klein
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Manfred Gossen
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Institute of Active Polymers, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Kantstr. 55, 14513 Teltow, Germany
| | - Toralf Roch
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany.,Center for Translational Medicine, Immunology, and Transplantation, Medical Department I, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Hölkeskampring 40, 44625 Herne, Germany
| | - Nina Babel
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany.,Center for Translational Medicine, Immunology, and Transplantation, Medical Department I, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Hölkeskampring 40, 44625 Herne, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany.,Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt- Universität zu Berlin, Institute of Medical Immunology, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Leila Amini
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
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9
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Kath J, Du W, Pruene A, Braun T, Thommandru B, Turk R, Sturgeon ML, Kurgan GL, Amini L, Stein M, Zittel T, Martini S, Ostendorf L, Wilhelm A, Akyüz L, Rehm A, Höpken UE, Pruß A, Künkele A, Jacobi AM, Volk HD, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Stripecke R, Reinke P, Wagner DL. Pharmacological interventions enhance virus-free generation of TRAC-replaced CAR T cells. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev 2022; 25:311-330. [PMID: 35573047 PMCID: PMC9062427 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtm.2022.03.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2022] [Accepted: 03/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) redirected T cells are potent therapeutic options against hematological malignancies. The current dominant manufacturing approach for CAR T cells depends on retroviral transduction. With the advent of gene editing, insertion of a CD19-CAR into the T cell receptor (TCR) alpha constant (TRAC) locus using adeno-associated viruses for gene transfer was demonstrated, and these CD19-CAR T cells showed improved functionality over their retrovirally transduced counterparts. However, clinical-grade production of viruses is complex and associated with extensive costs. Here, we optimized a virus-free genome-editing method for efficient CAR insertion into the TRAC locus of primary human T cells via nuclease-assisted homology-directed repair (HDR) using CRISPR-Cas and double-stranded template DNA (dsDNA). We evaluated DNA-sensor inhibition and HDR enhancement as two pharmacological interventions to improve cell viability and relative CAR knockin rates, respectively. While the toxicity of transfected dsDNA was not fully prevented, the combination of both interventions significantly increased CAR knockin rates and CAR T cell yield. Resulting TRAC-replaced CD19-CAR T cells showed antigen-specific cytotoxicity and cytokine production in vitro and slowed leukemia progression in a xenograft mouse model. Amplicon sequencing did not reveal significant indel formation at potential off-target sites with or without exposure to DNA-repair-modulating small molecules. With TRAC-integrated CAR+ T cell frequencies exceeding 50%, this study opens new perspectives to exploit pharmacological interventions to improve non-viral gene editing in T cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jonas Kath
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Weijie Du
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Alina Pruene
- Regenerative Immune Therapies Applied, Clinics of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Hannover-Braunschweig Region, Germany
| | - Tobias Braun
- Regenerative Immune Therapies Applied, Clinics of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Hannover-Braunschweig Region, Germany
| | | | - Rolf Turk
- Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., Coralville, IA 52241, USA
| | | | - Gavin L. Kurgan
- Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc., Coralville, IA 52241, USA
| | - Leila Amini
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Maik Stein
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Tatiana Zittel
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Stefania Martini
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | - Lennard Ostendorf
- Department of Nephrology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
- Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum (DRFZ), A Leibniz Institute, Berlin, Germany
| | | | | | - Armin Rehm
- Department of Translational Tumorimmunology, Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), 13125 Berlin, Germany
| | - Uta E. Höpken
- Department of Microenvironmental Regulation in Autoimmunity and Cancer, Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC), 13125 Berlin, Germany
| | - Axel Pruß
- Institute of Transfusion Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
| | - Annette Künkele
- Department of Pediatric Oncology and Hematology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), 10117 Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Renata Stripecke
- Regenerative Immune Therapies Applied, Clinics of Hematology, Hemostasis, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Hannover-Braunschweig Region, Germany
- Clinic I for Internal Medicine, Cancer Center Cologne Essen, University Hospital Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Dimitrios L. Wagner
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117 Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Transfusion Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany
- Corresponding author Dimitrios Laurin Wagner, MD, PhD, Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
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10
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Ou K, Hamo D, Schulze A, Roemhild A, Kaiser D, Gasparoni G, Salhab A, Zarrinrad G, Amini L, Schlickeiser S, Streitz M, Walter J, Volk HD, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Reinke P, Polansky JK. Strong Expansion of Human Regulatory T Cells for Adoptive Cell Therapy Results in Epigenetic Changes Which May Impact Their Survival and Function. Front Cell Dev Biol 2021; 9:751590. [PMID: 34869339 PMCID: PMC8639223 DOI: 10.3389/fcell.2021.751590] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/01/2021] [Accepted: 10/12/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Adoptive transfer of regulatory T cells (Treg) is a promising new therapeutic option to treat detrimental inflammatory conditions after transplantation and during autoimmune disease. To reach sufficient cell yield for treatment, ex vivo isolated autologous or allogenic Tregs need to be expanded extensively in vitro during manufacturing of the Treg product. However, repetitive cycles of restimulation and prolonged culture have been shown to impact T cell phenotypes, functionality and fitness. It is therefore critical to scrutinize the molecular changes which occur during T cell product generation, and reexamine current manufacturing practices. We performed genome-wide DNA methylation profiling of cells throughout the manufacturing process of a polyclonal Treg product that has proven safety and hints of therapeutic efficacy in kidney transplant patients. We found progressive DNA methylation changes over the duration of culture, which were donor-independent and reproducible between manufacturing runs. Differentially methylated regions (DMRs) in the final products were significantly enriched at promoters and enhancers of genes implicated in T cell activation. Additionally, significant hypomethylation did also occur in promoters of genes implicated in functional exhaustion in conventional T cells, some of which, however, have been reported to strengthen immunosuppressive effector function in Tregs. At the same time, a set of reported Treg-specific demethylated regions increased methylation levels with culture, indicating a possible destabilization of Treg identity during manufacturing, which was independent of the purity of the starting material. Together, our results indicate that the repetitive TCR-mediated stimulation lead to epigenetic changes that might impact functionality of Treg products in multiple ways, by possibly shifting to an effector Treg phenotype with enhanced functional activity or by risking destabilization of Treg identity and impaired TCR activation. Our analyses also illustrate the value of epigenetic profiling for the evaluation of T cell product manufacturing pipelines, which might open new avenues for the improvement of current adoptive Treg therapies with relevance for conventional effector T cell products.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristy Ou
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Dania Hamo
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anne Schulze
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andy Roemhild
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Daniel Kaiser
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Gilles Gasparoni
- Department of Genetics and Epigenetics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Abdulrahman Salhab
- Department of Genetics and Epigenetics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Ghazaleh Zarrinrad
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Leila Amini
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Stephan Schlickeiser
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mathias Streitz
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jörn Walter
- Department of Genetics and Epigenetics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Julia K Polansky
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin Institute of Health at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,German Rheumatism Research Centre (DRFZ) Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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11
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Landwehr-Kenzel S, Zobel A, Schmitt-Knosalla I, Forke A, Hoffmann H, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Klopfleisch R, Volk HD, Reinke P. Cyclosporine A but Not Corticosteroids Support Efficacy of Ex Vivo Expanded, Adoptively Transferred Human Tregs in GvHD. Front Immunol 2021; 12:716629. [PMID: 34707604 PMCID: PMC8543016 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.716629] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 09/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Reshaping the immune balance by adoptive transfer of regulatory T-cells (Tregs) has emerged as a promising strategy to combat undesired immune reactions, including in Graft-versus-Host Disease (GvHD), which is the most lethal non-relapse complication of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Currently however, little is known about the potentially inhibitory in vivo effects of conventional immunosuppressive drugs, which are routinely used to treat GvHD, on adoptively transferred Tregs. Here we demonstrate drug-specific effects of the conventional immunosuppressive drugs Cyclosporine A, Mycophenolate mofetil and methylprednisolone on adoptively transferred Tregs in a humanized NOD/SCID/IL2Rgamma-/- GvHD mouse model. The clinical course of GvHD and postmortem organ histology, including cellular organ infiltration, showed that co-administration of Cyclosporine A and Tregs is highly beneficial as it enhanced Treg accumulation at inflammatory sites like lung and liver. Similarly, co-administration of Mycophenolate mofetil and Tregs improved clinical signs of GvHD. In contrast, co-administration of methylprednisolone and Tregs resulted in reduced Treg recruitment to inflammatory sites and the fast deterioration of some animals. Consequently, when clinical trials investigating safety and efficacy of adjunctive Treg therapy in GvHD are designed, we suggest co-administering Cyclosporine A, whereas high doses of glucocorticosteroids should be avoided.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sybille Landwehr-Kenzel
- Department of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine, Immunology and Critical Care Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH-Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anne Zobel
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH-Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin, Germany
| | - Isabela Schmitt-Knosalla
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anne Forke
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH-Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin, Germany
| | - Henrike Hoffmann
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH-Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH-Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Robert Klopfleisch
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, Institute of Veterinary Pathology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH-Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, BIH-Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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12
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Wagner DL, Peter L, Schmueck-Henneresse M. Cas9-directed immune tolerance in humans-a model to evaluate regulatory T cells in gene therapy? Gene Ther 2021; 28:549-559. [PMID: 33574580 PMCID: PMC8455332 DOI: 10.1038/s41434-021-00232-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2020] [Accepted: 01/20/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
The dichotomic nature of the adaptive immune response governs the outcome of clinical gene therapy. On the one hand, neutralizing antibodies and cytotoxic T cells can have a dramatic impact on the efficacy and safety of human gene therapies. On the other hand, regulatory T cells (Treg) can promote tolerance toward transgenes thereby enabling long-term benefits of in vivo gene therapy after a single administration. Pre-existing antibodies and T cell immunity has been a major obstacle for in vivo gene therapies with viral vectors. As CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing advances toward the clinics, the technology's inherent immunogenicity must be addressed in order to guide clinical treatment decisions. This review summarizes the recent evidence on Cas9-specific immunity in humans-including early results from clinical trials-and discusses the risks for in vivo gene therapies. Finally, we focus on solutions and highlight the potential role of Cas9-specific Treg cells to promote immune tolerance. As a "beneficial alliance" beyond Cas9-immunity, antigen-specific Treg cells may serve as a living and targeted immunosuppressant to increase safety and efficacy of gene therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dimitrios Laurin Wagner
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH)-Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Transfusion Medicine, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Lena Peter
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH)-Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Einstein Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH)-Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
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13
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Vollmer T, Schlickeiser S, Amini L, Schulenberg S, Wendering DJ, Banday V, Jurisch A, Noster R, Kunkel D, Brindle NR, Savidis I, Akyüz L, Hecht J, Stervbo U, Roch T, Babel N, Reinke P, Winqvist O, Sherif A, Volk HD, Schmueck-Henneresse M. The intratumoral CXCR3 chemokine system is predictive of chemotherapy response in human bladder cancer. Sci Transl Med 2021; 13:13/576/eabb3735. [PMID: 33441425 DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abb3735] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2020] [Revised: 07/23/2020] [Accepted: 10/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Chemotherapy has direct toxic effects on cancer cells; however, long-term cancer control and complete remission are likely to involve CD8+ T cell immune responses. To study the role of CD8+ T cell infiltration in the success of chemotherapy, we examined patients with muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC) who were categorized on the basis of the response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC). We identified the intratumoral CXCR3 chemokine system (ligands and receptor splice variants) as a critical component for tumor eradication upon NAC in MIBC. Through characterization of CD8+ T cells, we found that stem-like T cell subpopulations with abundant CXCR3alt, a variant form of the CXCL11 receptor, responded to CXCL11 in culture as demonstrated by migration and enhanced effector function. In tumor biopsies of patients with MIBC accessed before treatment, CXCL11 abundance correlated with high numbers of tumor-infiltrating T cells and response to NAC. The presence of CXCR3alt and CXCL11 was associated with improved overall survival in MIBC. Evaluation of both CXCR3alt and CXCL11 enabled discrimination between responder and nonresponder patients with MIBC before treatment. We validated the prognostic role of the CXCR3-CXCL11 chemokine system in an independent cohort of chemotherapy-treated and chemotherapy-naïve patients with MIBC from data in TCGA. In summary, our data revealed stimulatory activity of the CXCR3alt-CXCL11 chemokine system on CD8+ T cells that is predictive of chemotherapy responsiveness in MIBC. This may offer immunotherapeutic options for targeted activation of intratumoral stem-like T cells in solid tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tino Vollmer
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Stephan Schlickeiser
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Leila Amini
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Sarah Schulenberg
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Desiree J Wendering
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Viqar Banday
- Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Urology and Andrology, Umea University, 901 85 Umea, Sweden.,Department of Clinical Microbiology, Immunology, Umea University, 901 85 Umea, Sweden
| | - Anke Jurisch
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Rebecca Noster
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Desiree Kunkel
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Nicola R Brindle
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Ioannis Savidis
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Levent Akyüz
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Jochen Hecht
- Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.,Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), 08002 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ulrik Stervbo
- Center for Translational Medicine, Medical Clinic I, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, D-44623 Herne, Germany
| | - Toralf Roch
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Center for Translational Medicine, Medical Clinic I, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, D-44623 Herne, Germany
| | - Nina Babel
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Center for Translational Medicine, Medical Clinic I, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, D-44623 Herne, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Ola Winqvist
- Department of Clinical Immunology, Karolinska University Hospital, 17 176 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Amir Sherif
- Department of Surgical and Perioperative Sciences, Urology and Andrology, Umea University, 901 85 Umea, Sweden
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany. .,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
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14
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Chowdhury MS, Zhang X, Amini L, Dey P, Singh AK, Faghani A, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Haag R. Functional Surfactants for Molecular Fishing, Capsule Creation, and Single-Cell Gene Expression. Nanomicro Lett 2021; 13:147. [PMID: 34146147 PMCID: PMC8214653 DOI: 10.1007/s40820-021-00663-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 05/04/2021] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Creating a single surfactant that is open to manipulation, while maintaining its surface activity, robustness, and compatibility, to expand the landscape of surfactant-dependent assays is extremely challenging. We report an oxidation-responsive precursor with thioethers and multiple 1,2-diols for creating a variety of functional surfactants from one parent surfactant. Using these multifunctional surfactants, we stabilize microfluidics-generated aqueous droplets. The droplets encapsulate different components and immerse in a bioinert oil with distinct interfaces where an azide-bearing surfactant allow fishing of biomolecules from the droplets, aldehyde-bearing surfactant allow fabrication of microcapsules, and hydroxyl-bearing surfactants, with/without oxidized thioethers, allow monitoring of single-cell gene expression. Creating multifunctional surfactants poses opportunities for broad applications, including adsorption, bioanalytics, catalysis, formulations, coatings, and programmable subset of emulsions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohammad Suman Chowdhury
- Institut Für Chemie Und Biochemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustrasse 3, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Xingcai Zhang
- John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
- School of Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, 02139, USA
| | - Leila Amini
- Berlin Institute of Health - Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin - CVK, Föhrer Str. 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin - CVK, Föhrer Str. 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Pradip Dey
- Institut Für Chemie Und Biochemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustrasse 3, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Abhishek Kumar Singh
- Institut Für Chemie Und Biochemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustrasse 3, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Abbas Faghani
- Institut Für Chemie Und Biochemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustrasse 3, 14195, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Institute of Health - Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin - CVK, Föhrer Str. 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin - CVK, Föhrer Str. 15, 13353, Berlin, Germany
| | - Rainer Haag
- Institut Für Chemie Und Biochemie, Freie Universität Berlin, Takustrasse 3, 14195, Berlin, Germany.
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15
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Amini L, Greig J, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Volk HD, Bézie S, Reinke P, Guillonneau C, Wagner DL, Anegon I. Super-Treg: Toward a New Era of Adoptive Treg Therapy Enabled by Genetic Modifications. Front Immunol 2021; 11:611638. [PMID: 33717052 PMCID: PMC7945682 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.611638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2020] [Accepted: 12/24/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Regulatory Tcells (Treg) are essential components of peripheral immune homeostasis. Adoptive Treg cell therapy has shown efficacy in a variety of immune-mediated diseases in preclinical studies and is now moving from phase I/IIa to larger phase II studies aiming to demonstrate efficacy. However, hurdles such as in vivo stability and efficacy remain to be addressed. Nevertheless, preclinical models have shown that Treg function and specificity can be increased by pharmacological substances or gene modifications, and even that conventional T cells can be converted to Treg potentially providing new sources of Treg and facilitating Treg cell therapy. The exponential growth in genetic engineering techniques and their application to T cells coupled to a large body of knowledge on Treg open numerous opportunities to generate Treg with "superpowers". This review summarizes the genetic engineering techniques available and their applications for the next-generation of Super-Treg with increased function, stability, redirected specificity and survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leila Amini
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) and Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
| | - Jenny Greig
- INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Transplantation et Immunologie, UMR 1064, ITUN, Nantes, France
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) and Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) and Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
| | - Séverine Bézie
- INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Transplantation et Immunologie, UMR 1064, ITUN, Nantes, France
| | - Petra Reinke
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) and Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
| | - Carole Guillonneau
- INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Transplantation et Immunologie, UMR 1064, ITUN, Nantes, France
| | - Dimitrios L. Wagner
- BIH Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT) and Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
| | - Ignacio Anegon
- INSERM, Centre de Recherche en Transplantation et Immunologie, UMR 1064, ITUN, Nantes, France
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16
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Amini L, Wagner DL, Rössler U, Zarrinrad G, Wagner LF, Vollmer T, Wendering DJ, Kornak U, Volk HD, Reinke P, Schmueck-Henneresse M. CRISPR-Cas9-Edited Tacrolimus-Resistant Antiviral T Cells for Advanced Adoptive Immunotherapy in Transplant Recipients. Mol Ther 2021; 29:32-46. [PMID: 32956624 PMCID: PMC7791012 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2020.09.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2020] [Accepted: 09/03/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Viral infections, such as with cytomegalovirus (CMV), remain a major risk factor for mortality and morbidity of transplant recipients because of their requirement for lifelong immunosuppression (IS). Antiviral drugs often cause toxicity and sometimes fail to control disease. Thus, regeneration of the antiviral immune response by adoptive antiviral T cell therapy is an attractive alternative. Our recent data, however, show only short-term efficacy in some solid organ recipients, possibly because of malfunction in transferred T cells caused by ongoing IS. We developed a vector-free clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9-based good manufacturing practice (GMP)-compliant protocol that efficiently targets and knocks out the gene for the adaptor protein FK506-binding protein 12 (FKBP12), required for the immunosuppressive function of tacrolimus. This was achieved by transient delivery of ribonucleoprotein complexes into CMV-specific T cells by electroporation. We confirmed the tacrolimus resistance of our gene-edited T cell products in vitro and demonstrated performance comparable with non-tacrolimus-treated unmodified T cells. The alternative calcineurin inhibitor cyclosporine A can be administered as a safety switch to shut down tacrolimus-resistant T cell activity in case of adverse effects. Furthermore, we performed safety assessments as a prerequisite for translation to first-in-human applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leila Amini
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Dimitrios Laurin Wagner
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Uta Rössler
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Institute of Medical Genetics and Human Genetics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Ghazaleh Zarrinrad
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Einstein Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Livia Felicitas Wagner
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Tino Vollmer
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Désirée Jacqueline Wendering
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Uwe Kornak
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Institute of Medical Genetics and Human Genetics, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Center for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany.
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17
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Steiner S, Sotzny F, Bauer S, Na IK, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Corman VM, Schwarz T, Drosten C, Wendering DJ, Behrends U, Volk HD, Scheibenbogen C, Hanitsch LG. HCoV- and SARS-CoV-2 Cross-Reactive T Cells in CVID Patients. Front Immunol 2020; 11:607918. [PMID: 33424856 PMCID: PMC7785785 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.607918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The inability of patients with CVID to mount specific antibody responses to pathogens has raised concerns on the risk and severity of SARS-CoV-2 infection, but there might be a role for protective T cells in these patients. SARS-CoV-2 reactive T cells have been reported for SARS-CoV-2 unexposed healthy individuals. Until now, there is no data on T cell immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection in CVID. This study aimed to evaluate reactive T cells to human endemic corona viruses (HCoV) and to study pre-existing SARS-CoV-2 reactive T cells in unexposed CVID patients. We evaluated SARS-CoV-2- and HCoV-229E and –OC43 reactive T cells in response to seven peptide pools, including spike and nucleocapsid (NCAP) proteins, in 11 unexposed CVID, 12 unexposed and 11 post COVID-19 healthy controls (HC). We further characterized reactive T cells by IFNγ, TNFα and IL-2 profiles. SARS-CoV-2 spike-reactive CD4+ T cells were detected in 7 of 11 unexposed CVID patients, albeit with fewer multifunctional (IFNγ/TNFα/IL-2) cells than unexposed HC. CVID patients had no SARS-CoV-2 NCAP reactive CD4+ T cells and less reactive CD8+ cells compared to unexposed HC. We observed a correlation between T cell reactivity against spike of SARS-CoV-2 and HCoVs in unexposed, but not post COVID-19 HC, suggesting cross-reactivity. T cell responses in post COVID-19 HC could be distinguished from unexposed HC by higher frequencies of triple-positive NCAP reactive CD4+ T cells. Taken together, SARS-CoV-2 reactive T cells are detectable in unexposed CVID patients albeit with lower recognition frequencies and polyfunctional potential. Frequencies of triple-functional reactive CD4+ cells might provide a marker to distinguish HCoV cross-reactive from SARS-CoV-2 specific T cell responses. Our data provides evidence, that anti-viral T cell immunity is not relevantly impaired in most CVID patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sophie Steiner
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Franziska Sotzny
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Sandra Bauer
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Il-Kang Na
- Department of Hematology, Oncology and Tumor Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.,Experimental and Clinical Research Center (ECRC), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Victor M Corman
- Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Institute of Health, and German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Charité, Berlin, Germany
| | - Tatjana Schwarz
- Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Institute of Health, and German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Charité, Berlin, Germany
| | - Christian Drosten
- Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin Institute of Health, and German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner Site Charité, Berlin, Germany
| | - Désirée J Wendering
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Uta Behrends
- Department of Pediatrics, Kinderklinik München Schwabing, StKM GmbH und Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Carmen Scheibenbogen
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Leif G Hanitsch
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
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18
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Bajda S, Blazquez-Navarro A, Samans B, Wehler P, Kaliszczyk S, Amini L, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Witzke O, Dittmer U, Westhoff TH, Viebahn R, Reinke P, Thomusch O, Hugo C, Olek S, Roch T, Babel N. The role of soluble mediators in the clinical course of EBV infection and B cell homeostasis after kidney transplantation. Sci Rep 2020; 10:19594. [PMID: 33177622 PMCID: PMC7658229 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-76607-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2020] [Accepted: 09/24/2020] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) reactivation can lead to serious complications in kidney transplant patients, including post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD). Here, we have assessed the impact of EBV on B cell homeostasis at cellular and humoral level. In a multicenter study monitoring 540 kidney transplant patients during the first post-transplant year, EBV reactivation was detected in 109 patients. Thirteen soluble factors and B cell counts were analyzed in an EBV+ sub-cohort (N = 54) before, at peak and after EBV clearance and compared to a control group (N = 50). The B cell activating factor (BAFF) was significantly elevated among EBV+ patients. No additional soluble factors were associated with EBV. Importantly, in vitro experiments confirmed the proliferative effect of BAFF on EBV-infected B cells, simultaneously promoting EBV production. In contrast, elevated levels of BAFF in EBV+ patients did not lead to B cell expansion in vivo. Moreover, diminished positive inter-correlations of soluble factors and alterations of the bi-directional interplay between B cell and soluble factors were observed in EBV+ patients at peak and after clearance. Our data suggest that such alterations may counteract the proliferative effect of BAFF, preventing B cell expansion. The role of these alterations in lymphoma development should be analyzed in future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharon Bajda
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT): Berlin-Brandenburger Centrum für Regenerative Therapien, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Arturo Blazquez-Navarro
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT): Berlin-Brandenburger Centrum für Regenerative Therapien, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Systems Immunology Lab, Department of Biology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Medical Department I, Center for Translational Medicine, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Björn Samans
- Ivana Türbachova Laboratory for Epigenetics, Epiontis GmbH, Precision for Medicine Group, Berlin, Germany
| | - Patrizia Wehler
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT): Berlin-Brandenburger Centrum für Regenerative Therapien, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Medical Department I, Center for Translational Medicine, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Sviatlana Kaliszczyk
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT): Berlin-Brandenburger Centrum für Regenerative Therapien, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Medical Department I, Center for Translational Medicine, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Leila Amini
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT): Berlin-Brandenburger Centrum für Regenerative Therapien, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT): Berlin-Brandenburger Centrum für Regenerative Therapien, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Oliver Witzke
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute for Virology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Ulf Dittmer
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Institute for Virology, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Timm H Westhoff
- Medical Department I, Center for Translational Medicine, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Richard Viebahn
- Chirurgical University Hospital, University Hospital Knappschaftskrankenhaus Bochum, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT): Berlin-Brandenburger Centrum für Regenerative Therapien, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Oliver Thomusch
- Department of General Surgery, University Hospital Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Christian Hugo
- Medical Clinic 3 - Nephrology Unit, University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Dresden, Germany
| | - Sven Olek
- Ivana Türbachova Laboratory for Epigenetics, Epiontis GmbH, Precision for Medicine Group, Berlin, Germany
| | - Toralf Roch
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT): Berlin-Brandenburger Centrum für Regenerative Therapien, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Medical Department I, Center for Translational Medicine, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Nina Babel
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT): Berlin-Brandenburger Centrum für Regenerative Therapien, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. .,Medical Department I, Center for Translational Medicine, Marien Hospital Herne, University Hospital of the Ruhr-University Bochum, Herne, Germany.
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19
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Roemhild A, Otto NM, Moll G, Abou-El-Enein M, Kaiser D, Bold G, Schachtner T, Choi M, Oellinger R, Landwehr-Kenzel S, Juerchott K, Sawitzki B, Giesler C, Sefrin A, Beier C, Wagner DL, Schlickeiser S, Streitz M, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Amini L, Stervbo U, Babel N, Volk HD, Reinke P. Regulatory T cells for minimising immune suppression in kidney transplantation: phase I/IIa clinical trial. BMJ 2020; 371:m3734. [PMID: 33087345 PMCID: PMC7576328 DOI: 10.1136/bmj.m3734] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 22.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To assess whether reshaping of the immune balance by infusion of autologous natural regulatory T cells (nTregs) in patients after kidney transplantation is safe, feasible, and enables the tapering of lifelong high dose immunosuppression, with its limited efficacy, adverse effects, and high direct and indirect costs, along with addressing several key challenges of nTreg treatment, such as easy and robust manufacturing, danger of over immunosuppression, interaction with standard care drugs, and functional stability in an inflammatory environment in a useful proof-of-concept disease model. DESIGN Investigator initiated, monocentre, nTreg dose escalation, phase I/IIa clinical trial (ONEnTreg13). SETTING Charité-University Hospital, Berlin, Germany, within the ONE study consortium (funded by the European Union). PARTICIPANTS Recipients of living donor kidney transplant (ONEnTreg13, n=11) and corresponding reference group trial (ONErgt11-CHA, n=9). INTERVENTIONS CD4+ CD25+ FoxP3+ nTreg products were given seven days after kidney transplantation as one intravenous dose of 0.5, 1.0, or 2.5-3.0×106 cells/kg body weight, with subsequent stepwise tapering of triple immunosuppression to low dose tacrolimus monotherapy until week 48. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The primary clinical and safety endpoints were assessed by a composite endpoint at week 60 with further three year follow-up. The assessment included incidence of biopsy confirmed acute rejection, assessment of nTreg infusion related adverse effects, and signs of over immunosuppression. Secondary endpoints addressed allograft functions. Accompanying research included a comprehensive exploratory biomarker portfolio. RESULTS For all patients, nTreg products with sufficient yield, purity, and functionality could be generated from 40-50 mL of peripheral blood taken two weeks before kidney transplantation. None of the three nTreg dose escalation groups had dose limiting toxicity. The nTreg and reference groups had 100% three year allograft survival and similar clinical and safety profiles. Stable monotherapy immunosuppression was achieved in eight of 11 (73%) patients receiving nTregs, while the reference group remained on standard dual or triple drug immunosuppression (P=0.002). Mechanistically, the activation of conventional T cells was reduced and nTregs shifted in vivo from a polyclonal to an oligoclonal T cell receptor repertoire. CONCLUSIONS The application of autologous nTregs was safe and feasible even in patients who had a kidney transplant and were immunosuppressed. These results warrant further evaluation of Treg efficacy and serve as the basis for the development of next generation nTreg approaches in transplantation and any immunopathologies. TRIAL REGISTRATION NCT02371434 (ONEnTreg13) and EudraCT:2011-004301-24 (ONErgt11).
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Affiliation(s)
- Andy Roemhild
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Natalie Maureen Otto
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
- Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Guido Moll
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mohamed Abou-El-Enein
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Daniel Kaiser
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Gantuja Bold
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Thomas Schachtner
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mira Choi
- Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Robert Oellinger
- Department of Abdominal and Transplant Surgery, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Sybille Landwehr-Kenzel
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Karsten Juerchott
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Birgit Sawitzki
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Cordula Giesler
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
- Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anett Sefrin
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
- Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Carola Beier
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Dimitrios Laurin Wagner
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Stephan Schlickeiser
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Mathias Streitz
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Leila Amini
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Ulrik Stervbo
- Medical Department 1, University hospitals of the Ruhr University of Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Nina Babel
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Medical Department 1, University hospitals of the Ruhr University of Bochum, Herne, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
- Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Centre for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow-Klinikum, Augustenburger Platz 1, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
- Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care Medicine, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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20
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Amini L, Vollmer T, Wendering DJ, Jurisch A, Landwehr-Kenzel S, Otto NM, Jürchott K, Volk HD, Reinke P, Schmueck-Henneresse M. Comprehensive Characterization of a Next-Generation Antiviral T-Cell Product and Feasibility for Application in Immunosuppressed Transplant Patients. Front Immunol 2019; 10:1148. [PMID: 31191530 PMCID: PMC6546853 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.01148] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2019] [Accepted: 05/07/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Viral infections have a major impact on morbidity and mortality of immunosuppressed solid organ transplant (SOT) patients because of missing or failure of adequate pharmacologic antiviral treatment. Adoptive antiviral T-cell therapy (AVTT), regenerating disturbed endogenous T-cell immunity, emerged as an attractive alternative approach to combat severe viral complications in immunocompromised patients. AVTT is successful in patients after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation where T-cell products (TCPs) are manufactured from healthy donors. In contrast, in the SOT setting TCPs are derived from/applied back to immunosuppressed patients. We and others demonstrated feasibility of TCP generation from SOT patients and first clinical proof-of-concept trials revealing promising data. However, the initial efficacy is frequently lost long-term, because of limited survival of transferred short-lived T-cells indicating a need for next-generation TCPs. Our recent data suggest that Rapamycin treatment during TCP manufacture, conferring partial inhibition of mTOR, might improve its composition. The aim of this study was to confirm these promising observations in a setting closer to clinical challenges and to deeply characterize the next-generation TCPs. Using cytomegalovirus (CMV) as model, our next-generation Rapamycin-treated (Rapa-)TCP showed consistently increased proportions of CD4+ T-cells as well as CD4+ and CD8+ central-memory T-cells (TCM). In addition, Rapamycin sustained T-cell function despite withdrawal of Rapamycin, showed superior T-cell viability and resistance to apoptosis, stable metabolism upon activation, preferential expansion of TCM, partial conversion of other memory T-cell subsets to TCM and increased clonal diversity. On transcriptome level, we observed a gene expression profile denoting long-lived early memory T-cells with potent effector functions. Furthermore, we successfully applied the novel protocol for the generation of Rapa-TCPs to 19/19 SOT patients in a comparative study, irrespective of their history of CMV reactivation. Moreover, comparison of paired TCPs generated before/after transplantation did not reveal inferiority of the latter despite exposition to maintenance immunosuppression post-SOT. Our data imply that the Rapa-TCPs, exhibiting longevity and sustained T-cell memory, are a reasonable treatment option for SOT patients. Based on our success to manufacture Rapa-TCPs from SOT patients under maintenance immunosuppression, now, we seek ultimate clinical proof of efficacy in a clinical study.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leila Amini
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Tino Vollmer
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Desiree J Wendering
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Anke Jurisch
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Sybille Landwehr-Kenzel
- Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Department for Pediatric Pulmonology, Immunology and Intensive Care Medicine, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Natalie Maureen Otto
- Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Karsten Jürchott
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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21
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Wendering DJ, Amini L, Schlickeiser S, Reinke P, Volk HD, Schmueck-Henneresse M. The Value of a Rapid Test of Human Regulatory T Cell Function Needs to be Revised. Front Immunol 2019; 10:150. [PMID: 30804944 PMCID: PMC6370705 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2019.00150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2018] [Accepted: 01/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ human regulatory TCELLS (TREG) are promising candidates for reshaping undesired immunity/inflammation by adoptive cell transfer, yet their application is strongly dependent on robust assays testing their functionality. Several studies along with first clinical data indicate TREG to be auspicious to use for future cell therapies, e.g., to induce tolerance after solid organ transplantation. To this end, TREG suppressive capacity has to be thoroughly evaluated prior to any therapeutic application. A 7 h-protocol for the assessment of TREG function by suppression of the early activation markers CD154 and CD69 on CD4+CD25− responder TCELLS (TRESP) upon polyclonal stimulation via αCD3/28-coated activating microbeads has previously been published. Even though this assay has since been applied by various groups, the protocol comes with a critical pitfall, which is yet not corrected by the journal of its original publication. Our results demonstrate that the observed decrease in activation marker frequency on TRESP is due to competition for αCD3/28-coated microbeads as opposed to a TREG-attributable effect and therefore the protocol cannot further be used as a diagnostic test to assess suppressive TREG function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Desiree J Wendering
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Centrum for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Leila Amini
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Centrum for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Stephan Schlickeiser
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Centrum for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Centrum for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Centrum for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) Centrum for Regenerative Therapies (B-CRT), Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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22
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Landwehr-Kenzel S, Zobel A, Hoffmann H, Landwehr N, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Schachtner T, Roemhild A, Reinke P. Ex vivo expanded natural regulatory T cells from patients with end-stage renal disease or kidney transplantation are useful for autologous cell therapy. Kidney Int 2018; 93:1452-1464. [PMID: 29792274 DOI: 10.1016/j.kint.2018.01.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/23/2017] [Revised: 01/05/2018] [Accepted: 01/11/2018] [Indexed: 02/08/2023]
Abstract
Novel concepts employing autologous, ex vivo expanded natural regulatory T cells (nTreg) for adoptive transfer has potential to prevent organ rejection after kidney transplantation. However, the impact of dialysis and maintenance immunosuppression on the nTreg phenotype and peripheral survival is not well understood, but essential when assessing patient eligibility. The current study investigates regulatory T-cells in dialysis and kidney transplanted patients and the feasibility of generating a clinically useful nTreg product from these patients. Heparinized blood from 200 individuals including healthy controls, dialysis patients with end stage renal disease and patients 1, 5, 10, 15, 20 years after kidney transplantation were analyzed. Differentiation and maturation of nTregs were studied by flow cytometry in order to compare dialysis patients and kidney transplanted patients under maintenance immunosuppression to healthy controls. CD127 expressing CD4+CD25highFoxP3+ nTregs were detectable at increased frequencies in dialysis patients with no negative impact on the nTreg end product quality and therapeutic usefulness of the ex vivo expanded nTregs. Further, despite that immunosuppression mildly altered nTreg maturation, neither dialysis nor pharmacological immunosuppression or previous acute rejection episodes impeded nTreg survival in vivo. Accordingly, the generation of autologous, highly pure nTreg products is feasible and qualifies patients awaiting or having received allogenic kidney transplantation for adoptive nTreg therapy. Thus, our novel treatment approach may enable us to reduce the incidence of organ rejection and reduce the need of long-term immunosuppression.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sybille Landwehr-Kenzel
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Department of Pediatrics, Division of Pneumonology and Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Anne Zobel
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Henrike Hoffmann
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Niels Landwehr
- Leibniz-Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy, Potsdam, Germany; University of Potsdam, Department for Computer Science, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Institute of Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, 13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Thomas Schachtner
- Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Andy Roemhild
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany; Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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23
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Omer B, Castillo PA, Tashiro H, Shum T, Huynh MTA, Cardenas M, Tanaka M, Lewis A, Sauer T, Parihar R, Lapteva N, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Mukherjee M, Gottschalk S, Rooney CM. Chimeric Antigen Receptor Signaling Domains Differentially Regulate Proliferation and Native T Cell Receptor Function in Virus-Specific T Cells. Front Med (Lausanne) 2018; 5:343. [PMID: 30619856 PMCID: PMC6297364 DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2018.00343] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/24/2018] [Accepted: 11/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The efficacy of T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) for solid tumors has been limited by insufficient CAR T cell expansion and persistence. The use of virus-specific T cells (VSTs) as carriers for CARs may overcome this limitation since CAR-VSTs can be boosted by viral vaccines or oncolytic viruses. However, there is limited understanding of the optimal combination of endodomains and their influence on the native T cell receptor (TCR) in VSTs. We therefore compared the function of GD2.CARs expressing the TCR zeta chain (ζ) alone or combined with endodomains from CD28 and 4-1BB in varicella zoster virus-specific (VZV) T cells. VZVSTs expressing GD2-CARs recognized VZV-derived peptides and killed GD2-expressing tumor cells. However, after repeated stimulation through their native TCR, the expansion of GD2-CAR.CD28ζ-VZVSTs was 3.3-fold greater (p < 0.001) than non-transduced VZVSTs, whereas GD2-CARζ- and GD2-CAR.41BBζ inhibited VZVST expansion (p < 0.01). Compared to control VZVSTs, GD2-CAR.ζ VZVSTs showed a greater frequency of apoptotic (p < 0.01) T cells, whereas prolonged downregulation of the native αβ TCR was observed in GD2-CAR.41BBζ VZVSTs (p < 0.001). We confirmed that CD28ζ can best maintain TCR function by expressing GD2.CARs in Epstein-Barr virus-specific T cells and CD19-CARs in VZVSTs. In response to CAR stimulation VSTs with CD28ζ endodomains also showed the greatest expansion (6 fold > GD2-CAR.41BBζ VZVSTs (p < 0.001), however anti-tumor efficacy was superior in GD2-CAR.41BBζ-VZVSTs. These findings demonstrate that CAR signaling domains can enhance or diminish the function of the native TCR and indicate that only CD28ζ may preserve the function of the native TCR in tonically signaling CAR-VSTs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bilal Omer
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States.,Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Paul A Castillo
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Haruko Tashiro
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Thomas Shum
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Mai T A Huynh
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Mara Cardenas
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Miyuki Tanaka
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Andrew Lewis
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Tim Sauer
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Robin Parihar
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States.,Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Natalia Lapteva
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Malini Mukherjee
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Stephen Gottschalk
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States.,Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.,Department of Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
| | - Cliona M Rooney
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, United States.,Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.,Department of Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States.,Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, United States
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24
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Wagner DL, Amini L, Wendering DJ, Burkhardt LM, Akyüz L, Reinke P, Volk HD, Schmueck-Henneresse M. High prevalence of Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9-reactive T cells within the adult human population. Nat Med 2018; 25:242-248. [PMID: 30374197 DOI: 10.1038/s41591-018-0204-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 234] [Impact Index Per Article: 39.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2018] [Accepted: 08/16/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The discovery of the highly efficient site-specific nuclease system CRISPR-Cas9 from Streptococcus pyogenes has galvanized the field of gene therapy1,2. The immunogenicity of Cas9 nuclease has been demonstrated in mice3,4. Preexisting immunity against therapeutic gene vectors or their cargo can decrease the efficacy of a potentially curative treatment and may pose significant safety issues3-6. S. pyogenes is a common cause for infectious diseases in humans, but it remains unclear whether it induces a T cell memory against the Cas9 nuclease7,8. Here, we show the presence of a preexisting ubiquitous effector T cell response directed toward the most widely used Cas9 homolog from S. pyogenes (SpCas9) within healthy humans. We characterize SpCas9-reactive T cells within the CD4/CD8 compartments for multi-effector potency, cytotoxicity, and lineage determination. In-depth analysis of SpCas9-reactive T cells reveals a high frequency of SpCas9-reactive regulatory T cells that can mitigate SpCas9-reactive effector T cell proliferation and function in vitro. Our results shed light on T cell-mediated immunity toward CRISPR-associated nucleases and offer a possible solution to overcome the problem of preexisting immunity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dimitrios L Wagner
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Institute of Health (BIH), Berlin, Germany
| | - Leila Amini
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Desiree J Wendering
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Lisa-Marie Burkhardt
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Levent Akyüz
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. .,Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany. .,Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
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25
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Schmueck-Henneresse M, Omer B, Shum T, Tashiro H, Mamonkin M, Lapteva N, Sharma S, Rollins L, Dotti G, Reinke P, Volk HD, Rooney CM. Comprehensive Approach for Identifying the T Cell Subset Origin of CD3 and CD28 Antibody-Activated Chimeric Antigen Receptor-Modified T Cells. J Immunol 2017; 199:348-362. [PMID: 28550199 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1601494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2016] [Accepted: 05/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
The outcome of therapy with chimeric Ag receptor (CAR)-modified T cells is strongly influenced by the subset origin of the infused T cells. However, because polyclonally activated T cells acquire a largely CD45RO+CCR7- effector memory phenotype after expansion, regardless of subset origin, it is impossible to know which subsets contribute to the final T cell product. To determine the contribution of naive T cell, memory stem T cell, central memory T cell, effector memory T cell, and terminally differentiated effector T cell populations to the CD3 and CD28-activated CAR-modified T cells that we use for therapy, we followed the fate and function of individually sorted CAR-modified T cell subsets after activation with CD3 and CD28 Abs (CD3/28), transduction and culture alone, or after reconstitution into the relevant subset-depleted population. We show that all subsets are sensitive to CAR transduction, and each developed a distinct T cell functional profile during culture. Naive-derived T cells showed the greatest rate of proliferation but had more limited effector functions and reduced killing compared with memory-derived populations. When cultured in the presence of memory T cells, naive-derived T cells show increased differentiation, reduced effector cytokine production, and a reduced reproliferative response to CAR stimulation. CD3/28-activated T cells expanded in IL-7 and IL-15 produced greater expansion of memory stem T cells and central memory T cell-derived T cells compared with IL-2. Our strategy provides a powerful tool to elucidate the characteristics of CAR-modified T cells, regardless of the protocol used for expansion, reveals the functional properties of each expanded T cell subset, and paves the way for a more detailed evaluation of the effects of manufacturing changes on the subset contribution to in vitro-expanded T cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany; .,Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030
| | - Bilal Omer
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.,Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Division of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030
| | - Thomas Shum
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.,Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Graduate Program of Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030
| | - Haruko Tashiro
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.,Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030
| | - Maksim Mamonkin
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.,Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030
| | - Natalia Lapteva
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.,Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030
| | - Sandhya Sharma
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.,Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Graduate Program of Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030
| | - Lisa Rollins
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.,Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030
| | - Gianpietro Dotti
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.,Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030
| | - Petra Reinke
- Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany.,Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Cliona M Rooney
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030.,Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030.,Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030; and.,Department of Pathology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030
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26
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Amini L, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Volk HD, Reinke P. A 2nd generation antiviral T cell product for sustained immunological regeneration. The Journal of Immunology 2017. [DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.198.supp.199.6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Reactivation of persisting viruses is one major complication in immunosuppressed patients. Despite the availability of potent antiviral drugs for CMV infection/reactivation, sufficient T cell response is required to control the infection sustainably, particularly in case of drug resistance development. In these cases, novel treatment strategies such as adoptive T cell therapy are indispensable.
We developed an autologous approach of antiviral T cell therapy which efficiently reduced viral load and symptoms, however, CMV disease relapsed in about half of patients. Back-to-bench, we could figure out that the relapses were presumably due to the biased composition of this 1st generation T cell product which almost exclusively consisted of short-lived effector memory T cells (TEM). Therefore, a 2nd generation protocol was developed which enriches for more long-lived and highly proliferative central memory T cells (TCM) which showed better engraftment and survival in animal models.
We characterized this 2nd generation T cell product employing different cytokine regiments in long-term culture with regard to stability, expansion, specific killing abilities, metabolic properties and could show its superiority with regard to cell survival and resistance to Fas-induced apoptosis.
Furthermore, we showed that TCM enrichment mainly resulted from preferred expansion and inhibited differentiation of TCM from the starting population, but partially also from reprogramming cells from “later” memory subsets, i.e. TEM and RA expressing effector T cells, into the TCM phenotype.
Finally, we demonstrated the applicability of this protocol to blood samples from kidney transplant patients who were undergoing immunosuppressive treatment.
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27
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Weist BJD, Wehler P, El Ahmad L, Schmueck-Henneresse M, Millward JM, Nienen M, Neumann AU, Reinke P, Babel N. A revised strategy for monitoring BKV-specific cellular immunity in kidney transplant patients. Kidney Int 2015. [PMID: 26221751 DOI: 10.1038/ki.2015.215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Reactivation of Polyomavirus BKV is a severe complication in kidney transplant patients. Current treatment requires close monitoring, and modification of immunosuppressive drugs. As an important additional tool, the monitoring of BKV immunity has been based on detection of cytokine-secreting T cells upon BKV-antigen challenge. However, low frequent BKV-specific T cells are often barely detectable and their roles in BKV clearance remain unclear. Here, we analyzed the effects of immunosuppressive agents on BKV-specific T cells in vitro. Significant reductions in expression of several markers, and reduced killing functions upon treatment with calcineurin but not mTOR inhibitors were detected. However, effects of these drugs on expression of surface markers and GranzymeB were substantially less striking than effects on cytokine expression. Consequently, we applied a novel detection strategy for BKV-specific T cells in immunosuppressed kidney transplant patients using these more robust markers, and showed significantly improved sensitivity compared with the conventional IFNγ-based method. Using this strategy and 17-color flow cytometry, we found BKV-specific helper and cytolytic CD4+ T-cell subsets that differed in their memory phenotype, which corresponded with BKV clearance in kidney transplant patients. Thus, our results offer an improved detection strategy for BKV-specific T cells in kidney transplant patients, and shed light on the contributions of these cells to BKV clearance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin J D Weist
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
| | - Patrizia Wehler
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
| | - Linda El Ahmad
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
| | | | - Jason M Millward
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
| | - Mikalai Nienen
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
| | - Avidan U Neumann
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
| | - Petra Reinke
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.,Department of Nephrology, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
| | - Nina Babel
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT), Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany.,Medical Clinic I, Marien Hospital Herne, Ruhr University Bochum, Herne, Germany
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28
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Schmueck-Henneresse M, Sharaf R, Vogt K, Weist BJD, Landwehr-Kenzel S, Fuehrer H, Jurisch A, Babel N, Rooney CM, Reinke P, Volk HD. Peripheral blood-derived virus-specific memory stem T cells mature to functional effector memory subsets with self-renewal potency. J Immunol 2015; 194:5559-67. [PMID: 25917088 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1402090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/13/2014] [Accepted: 03/27/2015] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Memory T cells expressing stem cell-like properties have been described recently. The capacity of self-renewal and differentiation into various memory/effector subsets make them attractive for adoptive T cell therapy to combat severe virus infections and tumors. The very few reports on human memory stem T cells (T(SCM)) are restricted to analyses on polyclonal T cells, but extensive data on Ag-specific T(SCM )are missing. This might be due to their very low frequency limiting their enrichment and characterization. In this article, we provide functional and phenotypic data on human viral-specific T(SCM), defined as CD8(+)CD45RA(+)CCR7(+)CD127(+)CD95(+). Whereas <1% of total T cells express the T(SCM) phenotype, human CMV-specific T(SCM) can be detected at frequencies similar to those seen in other subsets, resulting in ∼ 1 /10,000 human CMV-specific T(SCM). A new virus-specific expansion protocol of sort-purified T(SCM) reveals both upregulation of various T cell subset markers and preservation of their stem cell phenotype in a significant proportion, indicating both self-renewal and differentiation potency of virus-specific T cells sharing their TCR repertoire. Furthermore, we describe a simplified culture protocol that allows fast expansion of virus-specific T(SCM) starting from a mixed naive T/T(SCM) pool of PBLs. Due to the clinical-grade compatibility, this might be the basis for novel cell therapeutic options in life-threatening courses of viral and tumor disease.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Schmueck-Henneresse
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany; Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany;
| | - Radwa Sharaf
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Katrin Vogt
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Benjamin J D Weist
- Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Sybille Landwehr-Kenzel
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin-Brandenburg School for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany; Department for Pediatric Pulmonology and Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Henrike Fuehrer
- Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Anke Jurisch
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Nina Babel
- Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany; Marien Hospital Herne, Ruhr University Bochum, D-44625 Herne, Germany; and
| | - Cliona M Rooney
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030
| | - Petra Reinke
- Renal and Transplant Research Unit, Department of Nephrology and Internal Intensive Care, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
| | - Hans-Dieter Volk
- Institute for Medical Immunology, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany; Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Regenerative Therapies, Charité University Medicine Berlin, D-13353 Berlin, Germany
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