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Raskin S, Van Pelt S, Toner K, Balakrishnan PB, Dave H, Bollard CM, Yvon E. Novel TCR-like CAR-T cells targeting an HLA∗0201-restricted SSX2 epitope display strong activity against acute myeloid leukemia. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev 2021; 23:296-306. [PMID: 34729377 PMCID: PMC8526777 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtm.2021.09.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [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] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2021] [Accepted: 09/24/2021] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
The synovial sarcoma X breakpoint 2 (SSX2) belongs to a multigene family of cancer-testis antigens and can be found overexpressed in multiple malignancies. Its restricted expression in immune-privileged normal tissues suggest that SSX2 may be a relevant target antigen for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy. We have developed a T cell receptor (TCR)-like antibody (Fab/3) that binds SSX2 peptide 41-49 (KASEKIFYV) in the context of HLA-A∗-0201. The sequence of Fab/3 was utilized to engineer a CAR with the CD3 zeta intra-cellular domain along with either a CD28 or 4-1BB costimulatory endodomain. Human T cells from HLA-A2+ donors were transduced to mediate anti-tumor activity against acute myeloid leukemia (AML) tumor cells. Upon challenge with HLA-A2+/SSX2+ AML tumor cells, CAR-expressing T cells released interferon-γ and eliminated the tumor cells in a long-term co-culture assay. Using the HLA-A2+ T2 cell line, we demonstrated a strong specificity of the single-chain variable fragment (scFv) for SSX2 p41-49 and the closely related SSX3 p41-49, with no response against the others SSX-homologous peptides or unrelated homologous peptides. Since SSX3 has not been observed in tumor cells and expression cannot be induced by pharmacological intervention, SSX241-49 represents an attractive target for CAR-based cellular therapy to treat multiple types of cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Raskin
- Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy, Children's National Health System, Washington, DC 20010, USA
| | - Stacey Van Pelt
- Institute for Biomedical Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.,The George Washington University Cancer Center, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Keri Toner
- Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy, Children's National Health System, Washington, DC 20010, USA.,The George Washington University Cancer Center, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | | | - Hema Dave
- Institute for Biomedical Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.,The George Washington University Cancer Center, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Catherine M Bollard
- Program for Cell Enhancement and Technologies for Immunotherapy, Children's National Health System, Washington, DC 20010, USA.,Institute for Biomedical Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA.,The George Washington University Cancer Center, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Eric Yvon
- The George Washington University Cancer Center, Washington, DC 20052, USA.,Department of Medicine, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
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