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Dobson LJ, Saunderson SC, Smith-Bell SW, McLellan AD. Sleeping Beauty kit sets provide rapid and accessible generation of artificial antigen-presenting cells for natural killer cell expansion. Immunol Cell Biol 2023; 101:847-856. [PMID: 37585342 DOI: 10.1111/imcb.12679] [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] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2023] [Revised: 07/24/2023] [Accepted: 07/25/2023] [Indexed: 08/18/2023]
Abstract
Artificial antigen-presenting cells (aAPCs) offer a cost effective and convenient tool for the expansion of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-bearing T cells and NK cells. aAPCs are particularly useful because of their ability to efficiently expand low-frequency antigen-reactive lymphocytes in bulk cultures. Commonly derived from the leukemic cell line K562, these aAPCs lack most major histocompatibility complex expression and are therefore useful for NK cell expansion without triggering allogeneic T-cell proliferation. To combat difficulties in accessing existing aAPC lines, while circumventing the iterative lentiviral gene transfers with antibody-mediated sorting required for the isolation of stable aAPC clones, we developed a single-step technique using Sleeping Beauty (SB)-based vectors with antibiotic selection options. Our SB vectors contain options of two to three genes encoding costimulatory molecules, membrane-bound cytokines as well as the presence of antibiotic-resistance genes that allow for stable transposition-based transfection of feeder cells. Transfection of K562 with SB vectors described in this study allows for the surface expression of CD86, 4-1BBL, membrane-bound (mb) interleukin (IL)-15 and mbIL-21 after simultaneous transposition and antibiotic selection using only two antibiotics. aAPCs successfully expanded NK cells to high purity (80-95%). Expanded NK cells could be further engineered by lentiviral CAR transduction. The multivector kit set is publicly available and will allow convenient and reproducible in-house production of effective aAPCs for the in vitro expansion of primary cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lachlan J Dobson
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Sarah C Saunderson
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Samuel Wj Smith-Bell
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
| | - Alexander D McLellan
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
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Isser A, Livingston NK, Schneck JP. Biomaterials to enhance antigen-specific T cell expansion for cancer immunotherapy. Biomaterials 2021; 268:120584. [PMID: 33338931 PMCID: PMC7856270 DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2020.120584] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2020] [Revised: 11/22/2020] [Accepted: 11/26/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
T cells are often referred to as the 'guided missiles' of our immune system because of their capacity to traffic to and accumulate at sites of infection or disease, destroy infected or mutated cells with high specificity and sensitivity, initiate systemic immune responses, sterilize infections, and produce long-lasting memory. As a result, they are a common target for a range of cancer immunotherapies. However, the myriad of challenges of expanding large numbers of T cells specific to each patient's unique tumor antigens has led researchers to develop alternative, more scalable approaches. Biomaterial platforms for expansion of antigen-specific T cells offer a path forward towards broadscale translation of personalized immunotherapies by providing "off-the-shelf", yet modular approaches to customize the phenotype, function, and specificity of T cell responses. In this review, we discuss design considerations and progress made in the development of ex vivo and in vivo technologies for activating antigen-specific T cells, including artificial antigen presenting cells, T cell stimulating scaffolds, biomaterials-based vaccines, and artificial lymphoid organs. Ultimate translation of these platforms as a part of cancer immunotherapy regimens hinges on an in-depth understanding of T cell biology and cell-material interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ariel Isser
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, USA; Institute for Cell Engineering, School of Medicine, USA
| | - Natalie K Livingston
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, USA; Institute for Cell Engineering, School of Medicine, USA; Translational Tissue Engineering Center, USA; Institute for Nanobiotechnology, USA
| | - Jonathan P Schneck
- Institute for Cell Engineering, School of Medicine, USA; Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, USA; Institute for Nanobiotechnology, USA; Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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Shao J, Xu Q, Su S, Wei J, Meng F, Chen F, Zhao Y, Du J, Zou Z, Qian X, Liu B. Artificial antigen-presenting cells are superior to dendritic cells at inducing antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Cell Immunol 2018; 334:78-86. [PMID: 30392890 DOI: 10.1016/j.cellimm.2018.10.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2018] [Revised: 09/27/2018] [Accepted: 10/07/2018] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Adoptive immunotherapy is a promising cancer treatment that entails infusion of immune cells manipulated to have antitumor specificity, in vitro. Antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes are the main executors of transformed cells during cancer immunotherapy. To induce antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes, we developed artificial antigen-presenting cells (aAPCs) by engineering K562 cells with electroporation to direct the stable expression of HLA-A∗0201, CD80, and 4-1BBL. Our findings demonstrate that after three stimulation cycles, the aAPCs promoted the induction of antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes with a less differentiated "young" phenotype, which enhanced immune responses with superior cytotoxicity. This novel, easy, and cost-effective approach to inducing antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes provides the possibility of improved cancer therapies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jie Shao
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Qiuping Xu
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Shu Su
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Jia Wei
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Fanyan Meng
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Fangjun Chen
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Yang Zhao
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Juan Du
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Zhengyun Zou
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Xiaoping Qian
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China
| | - Baorui Liu
- The Comprehensive Cancer Center of Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University & Clinical Cancer Institute of Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China.
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Hickey JW, Isser AY, Vicente FP, Warner SB, Mao HQ, Schneck JP. Efficient magnetic enrichment of antigen-specific T cells by engineering particle properties. Biomaterials 2018; 187:105-116. [PMID: 30312851 DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2018.09.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2018] [Revised: 09/08/2018] [Accepted: 09/17/2018] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Magnetic particles can enrich desired cell populations to aid in understanding cell-type functions and mechanisms, diagnosis, and therapy. As cells are heterogeneous in ligand type, location, expression, and density, careful consideration of magnetic particle design for positive isolation is necessary. Antigen-specific immune cells have low frequencies, which has made studying, identifying, and utilizing these cells for therapy a challenge. Here we demonstrate the importance of magnetic particle design based on the biology of T cells. We create magnetic particles which recognize rare antigen-specific T cells and quantitatively investigate important particle properties including size, concentration, ligand density, and ligand choice in enriching these rare cells. We observe competing optima among particle parameters, with 300 nm particles functionalized with a high density of antigen-specific ligand achieving the highest enrichment and recovery of target cells. In enriching and then activating an endogenous response, 300 nm aAPCs generate nearly 65% antigen-specific T cells with at least 450-fold expansion from endogenous precursors and a 5-fold increase in numbers of antigen-specific cells after only seven days. This systematic study of particle properties in magnetic enrichment provides a case study for the engineering design principles of particles for the isolation of rare cells through biological ligands.
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Affiliation(s)
- John W Hickey
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Institute for Cell Engineering, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Translational Tissue Engineering Center, Baltimore, MD, USA; Institute for Nanobiotechnology, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Ariel Y Isser
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Institute for Cell Engineering, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Fernando P Vicente
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Samuel B Warner
- Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Hai-Quan Mao
- Translational Tissue Engineering Center, Baltimore, MD, USA; Institute for Nanobiotechnology, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Whiting School of Engineering, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Jonathan P Schneck
- Institute for Cell Engineering, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA; Institute for Nanobiotechnology, Baltimore, MD, USA; Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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Abstract
T cells are crucial contributors to mounting an effective immune response and increasingly the focus of therapeutic interventions in cancer, infectious disease, and autoimmunity. Translation of current T cell immunotherapies has been hindered by off-target toxicities, limited efficacy, biological variability, and high costs. As T cell therapeutics continue to develop, the application of engineering concepts to control their delivery and presentation will be critical for their success. Here, we outline the engineer's toolbox and contextualize it with the biology of T cells. We focus on the design principles of T cell modulation platforms regarding size, shape, material, and ligand choice. Furthermore, we review how application of these design principles has already impacted T cell immunotherapies and our understanding of T cell biology. Recent, salient examples from protein engineering, synthetic particles, cellular and genetic engineering, and scaffolds and surfaces are provided to reinforce the importance of design considerations. Our aim is to provide a guide for immunologists, engineers, clinicians, and the pharmaceutical sector for the design of T cell-targeting platforms.
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Affiliation(s)
- John W Hickey
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; Institute for NanoBiotechnology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Alyssa K Kosmides
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; Institute for NanoBiotechnology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
| | - Jonathan P Schneck
- Institute for NanoBiotechnology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; Cell Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States; Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States
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Zhang L, Wang L, Shahzad KA, Xu T, Wan X, Pei W, Shen C. Paracrine release of IL-2 and anti-CTLA-4 enhances the ability of artificial polymer antigen-presenting cells to expand antigen-specific T cells and inhibit tumor growth in a mouse model. Cancer Immunol Immunother 2017; 66:1229-1241. [PMID: 28501941 PMCID: PMC11028408 DOI: 10.1007/s00262-017-2016-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2016] [Accepted: 05/06/2017] [Indexed: 12/22/2022]
Abstract
Accumulating evidence indicates that bead-based artificial antigen-presenting cells (aAPCs) are a powerful tool to induce antigen-specific T cell responses in vitro and in vivo. To date, most conventional aAPCs have been generated by coupling an antigen signal (signal 1) and one or two costimulatory signals, such as anti-CD28 with anti-LFA1 or anti-4-1BB (signal 2), onto the surfaces of cell-sized or nanoscale magnetic beads or polyester latex beads. The development of a biodegradable scaffold and the combined use of multiple costimulatory signals as well as third signals for putative clinical applications is the next step in the development of this technology. Here, a novel biodegradable aAPC platform for active immunotherapy was developed by co-encapsulating IL-2 and anti-CTLA-4 inside cell-sized polylactic-co-glycolic acid microparticles (PLGA-MPs) while co-coupling an H-2Kb/TRP2-Ig dimer and anti-CD28 onto the surface. Cytokines (activating signal) and antibodies (anti-inhibition signal) were efficiently co-encapsulated in PLGA-MP-based aAPCs and co-released without interfering with each other. The targeted, sustained co-release of IL-2 and anti-CTLA-4 achieved markedly enhanced, synergistic effects in activating and expanding tumor antigen-specific T cells both in vitro and in vivo, as well as in inhibiting tumor growth in a mouse melanoma model, as compared with conventional two-signal aAPCs and IL-2 or anti-CTLA-4 single-released aAPCs. These data revealed the feasibility and importance of the paracrine release of multiple costimulatory molecules and cytokines from biodegradable aAPCs and thus provide a proof of principle for the future use of polymeric aAPCs for active immunotherapy of tumors and infectious diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Zhang
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School, Southeast University, 87 Dingjiaqiao Rd, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China
| | - Limin Wang
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School, Southeast University, 87 Dingjiaqiao Rd, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China
| | - Khawar Ali Shahzad
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School, Southeast University, 87 Dingjiaqiao Rd, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China
| | - Tao Xu
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School, Southeast University, 87 Dingjiaqiao Rd, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China
| | - Xin Wan
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School, Southeast University, 87 Dingjiaqiao Rd, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China
| | - Weiya Pei
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School, Southeast University, 87 Dingjiaqiao Rd, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China
| | - Chuanlai Shen
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Medical School, Southeast University, 87 Dingjiaqiao Rd, Nanjing, 210009, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China.
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