Project description:The majority of common chronic human diseases remain incurable, impacting a significant portion of the population and necessitating lifelong treatments that impose a substantial burden on health, the economy, and society. Asthma, the most prevalent respiratory disease, exemplifies this challenge, affecting over 300 million people and causing more than 250,000 deaths annually. Here, we demonstrate the achievement of long-term remission of type 2-high asthma through a single infusion of engineered CAR T cells. By utilizing IL-5 as the targeting domain and depleting BCOR and ZC3H12A, we engineer long-lived CAR T cells designed to eradicate IL-5R+ eosinophils, termed Immortal-like and Functional IL-5 CAR T (5TIF) cells. Furthermore, we enhance 5TIF cells by engineering them to secrete an IL-4 mutein that blocks the signaling of both IL-4 and IL-13, two inflammatory cytokines driving asthma pathology, resulting in the creation of 5TIF4 cells. In multiple asthma models, a single infusion of 5TIF4 cells in fully immunocompetent mice, without any conditioning regimen, leads to long-term depletion of pathological eosinophils and blockade of IL-4/IL-13 actions. This results in sustained repression of type 2 inflammation and alleviation of asthmatic symptoms. Additionally, 5TIF4 cells can be induced in human T cells in NSG mice. These findings demonstrate that asthma, a prevalent and incurable disease, can undergo durable remission through a single infusion of engineered CAR T cells. This breakthrough paves the way for the potential functional cure of chronic noncancerous diseases using long-lived CAR T cells.
Project description:The majority of common chronic human diseases remain incurable, impacting a significant portion of the population and necessitating lifelong treatments that impose a substantial burden on health, the economy, and society. Asthma, the most prevalent respiratory disease, exemplifies this challenge, affecting over 300 million people and causing more than 250,000 deaths annually. Here, we demonstrate the achievement of long-term remission of type 2-high asthma through a single infusion of engineered CAR T cells. By utilizing IL-5 as the targeting domain and depleting BCOR and ZC3H12A, we engineer long-lived CAR T cells designed to eradicate IL-5R+ eosinophils, termed Immortal-like and Functional IL-5 CAR T (5TIF) cells. Furthermore, we enhance 5TIF cells by engineering them to secrete an IL-4 mutein that blocks the signaling of both IL-4 and IL-13, two inflammatory cytokines driving asthma pathology, resulting in the creation of 5TIF4 cells. In multiple asthma models, a single infusion of 5TIF4 cells in fully immunocompetent mice, without any conditioning regimen, leads to long-term depletion of pathological eosinophils and blockade of IL-4/IL-13 actions. This results in sustained repression of type 2 inflammation and alleviation of asthmatic symptoms. Additionally, 5TIF4 cells can be induced in human T cells in NSG mice. These findings demonstrate that asthma, a prevalent and incurable disease, can undergo durable remission through a single infusion of engineered CAR T cells. This breakthrough paves the way for the potential functional cure of chronic noncancerous diseases using long-lived CAR T cells.
Project description:CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has transformed outcomes for patients with relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL), yet the mechanisms underlying durable remission remain incompletely understood. While CAR T-cell persistence is associated with response, long-term remission can occur despite rapid CAR T clearance, suggesting the involvement of additional immune mechanisms. To investigate the role of the native T-cell repertoire in shaping response durability, we performed single-cell RNA and TCR sequencing (scRNA-seq/scTCR-seq) on longitudinal peripheral blood samples from LBCL patients treated with axicabtagene ciloleucel (axi-cel) in the ZUMA-1 trial. We compared immune landscapes and clonotypic dynamics among patients achieving durable remission (>1 year), those experiencing early relapse (<6 months), and those with refractory disease. Patients with long-term remission exhibited increased cytotoxic, proinflammatory, and proliferative native T-cell subsets, while early relapse was associated with immunoregulatory populations that may suppress T-cell activation. TCR profiling revealed robust clonotypic expansion of native cytotoxic T cells post-infusion in durable responders, with expansion patterns strongly predicting clinical outcomes. Notably, TCR screens did not identify known viral targets, suggesting tumor-specific immunity may mediate ongoing remission. These findings propose native T-cell clonotypic expansion as a key determinant of durable response to CAR T therapy and highlight its predictive potential for long-term clinical outcomes.
Project description:We successfully developed a two-in-one approach to generate non-viral genome specific targeted CAR T cells through CRISPR/Cas9. In the adoptive therapy for relapsed/refractory aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, we observed durable responses without serious adverse events and complete remission in patients treated with PD1 knockin CAR T cells. Here we applied single-cell sequencing to analyze the characteristcis of infusion products and T cells after administration.
Project description:Tumors typically lack canonical danger signals required to activate adaptive immunity and also frequently employ substantial immunomodulatory mechanisms that downregulate adaptive responses and contribute to escape from immune surveillance. Given the variety of mechanisms involved in shielding tumors from immune recognition, it is not surprising that single agent immunomodulatory approaches have been largely unsuccessful in generating durable antitumor responses. Here we report a unique combination of immunomodulatory and cytostatic agents that recondition the tumor microenvironment and eliminate complex and/or poor-prognosis tumor types including the aggressive MOC-2 model of HNSCC. scRNAseq analysis implicated up-regulation of innate immune responses and antigen presentation in tumor cells and the myeloid cell compartment as critical early events.
Project description:Identify biomarkers to predict response to therapy in polyarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) using gene expression microarrays. 42 samples from 13 controls, 14 active patients, 9 patients in clinical remission with medication (CRM), and 6 patients in clinical remission without medication (CR). All patients had polyarticular JIA.
Project description:To identify insulin responsive genes in humans, in the first protocol, skeletal muscle biopsies from six non-diabetic subjects were obtained before and after a two-hour of hyperinsulinaemic (infusion rate 40 mU/m2/min) euglycemic clamp. A variable infusion of glucose (180 g/l) enriched with tritiated glucose (100 μCi/500 ml) maintained euglycemia during insulin infusion, with monitoring of plasma glucose concentration every 5 to 10 min during the basal and clamp periods using an automated glucose oxidation method (Glucose Analyzer 2, Beckman Instruments, Fullerton, CA). In the second protocol, skeletal muscle biopsies from six non-diabetic subjects were obtained before and after a 3-hour hyperinsulinemic (infusion rate 40 mU/m2/min) euglycemic clamp in order to increase the effects of insulin on gene expression. A variable infusion of glucose (180 g/l) was used to maintain euglycemia during insulin infusion with monitoring of plasma glucose concentration every 5 to 10 min using an automated glucose oxidation method (Glucose Analyzer 2, Beckman Instruments, Fullerton, CA). Keywords: dose response The muscle biopsies were obtained from the vastus lateralis muscle under local anesthesia before and after hyperinsulinaemic (infusion rate 40 mU/m2/min) euglycemic clamp