Concert between cytokines and costimulatory domains to optimize chimeric antigen receptor immunotherapy in neuroblastoma model

ABSTRACT: Adoptive T cell therapy with gene-modified T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) is a rapidly growing field of translational medicine and recently has shown dramatic therapeutic success in the treatment of B-cell malignancies. However, challenges to achieve similar response in patients harboring solid tumour are still considerable. To achieve anti-tumor efficacy, these cells must survive, expand and persist after infusion into patients. An important lesson has been derived from clinical trials using CAR technologies: the relevance of the CAR design to enhance signaling and sustain T cell proliferation and survival. Here, we prove that third generation CARs specific for GD2 antigen incorporating CD28.4-1BB costimulatory domains improves T cell immunotherapy in a neuroblastoma (NB) pre-clinical model, as compared to a CAR with the same specificity but including CD28.OX40 costimulation. Indeed, we test the anti-tumor activity of polyclonal T cells genetically modified with third generation CAR.GD2 incorporating either CD28.4-1BB or CD28.OX40 in frame with the safety switch inducible Caspase 9 (iC9). We prove a significant in vitro and in vivo amelioration of the approach by the presence of 4.1BB signaling in terms of: 1) less T cell exhaustion, 2) lower basal T cell activation, 3) higher in vivo tumor control and 4) T cell persistence. In addition, the fine tuning of T cell culture conditions with the use of IL7 and IL15 show to be synergic with the third generation CAR.GD2 design to optimize CAR T immunotherapy for NB. Our results provide a proof-of-concept for the need to optimize not only CAR construct design but also T cell culture conditions in order to boost T cell activity in vivo.

INSTRUMENT(S): LTQ Orbitrap Velos

ORGANISM(S): Homo Sapiens (human)

TISSUE(S): T Cell, Blood

DISEASE(S): Neuroblastoma

SUBMITTER: Andrea Petretto  

LAB HEAD: Andrea Petretto

PROVIDER: PXD005426 | Pride | 2018-06-27

REPOSITORIES: Pride