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Guerrouahen B, Elnaggar M, Al-Mohannadi A, Kizhakayil D, Bonini C, Benjamin R, Brentjens R, Buchholz CJ, Casorati G, Ferrone S, Locke FL, Martin F, Schambach A, Turtle C, Veys P, van der Vliet HJ, Maccalli C. Proceedings From the First International Workshop at Sidra Medicine: "Engineered Immune Cells in Cancer Immunotherapy (EICCI): From Discovery to Off-the-Shelf Development", 15 th-16 th February 2019, Doha, Qatar. Front Immunol 2021; 11:589381. [PMID: 33584653 PMCID: PMC7874217 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.589381] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2020] [Accepted: 11/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The progress in the isolation and characterization of tumor antigen (TA)-specific T lymphocytes and in the genetic modification of immune cells allowed the clinical development of adoptive cell therapy (ACT). Several clinical studies highlighted the striking clinical activity of T cells engineered to express either Chimeric Antigen (CAR) or T Cell (TCR) Receptors to target molecularly defined antigens expressed on tumor cells. The breakthrough of immunotherapy is represented by the approval of CAR-T cells specific for advanced or refractory CD19+ B cell malignancies by both the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicinal Agency (EMA). Moreover, advances in the manufacturing and gene editing of engineered immune cells contributed to the selection of drug products with desired phenotype, refined specificity and decreased toxicity. An important step toward the optimization of CAR-T cell therapy is the development of "off-the shelf" T cell products that allow to reduce the complexity and the costs of the manufacturing and to render these drugs available for a broad number of cancer patients. The Engineered Immune Cells in Cancer Immunotherapy (EICCI) workshop hosted in Doha, Qatar, renowned experts, from both academia and industry, to present and discuss the progress on both pre-clinical and clinical development of genetically modified immune cells, including advances in the "off-the-shelf" manufacturing. These experts have addressed also organizational needs and hurdles for the clinical grade production and application of these biological drugs.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | - Chiara Bonini
- Experimental Hematology Unit, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele and Hospital San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Reuben Benjamin
- Division of Cancer Studies, King's College Hospital, London, United Kingdom
| | - Renier Brentjens
- Cellular Therapeutics, Department of Medicine, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United States
| | - Christian J Buchholz
- Research Unit for Molecular Biotechnology and Gene Therapy, Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Langen, Germany
| | - Giulia Casorati
- Experimental Immunology Unit, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele and Hospital San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Soldano Ferrone
- Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Frederick L Locke
- Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, FL, United States
| | - Francisco Martin
- Pfizer/University of Granada/Andalusian Regional Government, Genomic Medicine Department, Granada, Spain
| | - Axel Schambach
- Institute of Experimental Hematology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.,Division of Hematology/Oncology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boson, MA, United States
| | - Cameron Turtle
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Paul Veys
- Bone Marrow Transplant Unit, Great Ormond Street (GOS) Hospital, and University College London GOS Institute of Child Health, London, United Kingdom
| | - Hans J van der Vliet
- Hans van Der Vliet, Department of Medical Oncology, Amsterdam UMC, VU University and Cancer Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands.,Lava Therapeutics, Utrecht, Netherlands
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Translating Unconventional T Cells and Their Roles in Leukemia Antitumor Immunity. J Immunol Res 2021; 2021:6633824. [PMID: 33506055 PMCID: PMC7808823 DOI: 10.1155/2021/6633824] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/07/2020] [Revised: 12/16/2020] [Accepted: 12/23/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Recently, cell-mediated immune response in malignant neoplasms has become the focus in immunotherapy against cancer. However, in leukemia, most studies on the cytotoxic potential of T cells have concentrated only on T cells that recognize peptide antigens (Ag) presented by polymorphic molecules of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). This ignores the great potential of unconventional T cell populations, which include gamma-delta T cells (γδ), natural killer T cells (NKT), and mucosal-associated invariant T cells (MAIT). Collectively, these T cell populations can recognize lipid antigens, specially modified peptides and small molecule metabolites, in addition to having several other advantages, which can provide more effective applications in cancer immunotherapy. In recent years, these cell populations have been associated with a repertoire of anti- or protumor responses and play important roles in the dynamics of solid tumors and hematological malignancies, thus, encouraging the development of new investigations in the area. This review focuses on the current knowledge regarding the role of unconventional T cell populations in the antitumor immune response in leukemia and discusses why further studies on the immunotherapeutic potential of these cells are needed.
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Perez C, Gruber I, Arber C. Off-the-Shelf Allogeneic T Cell Therapies for Cancer: Opportunities and Challenges Using Naturally Occurring "Universal" Donor T Cells. Front Immunol 2020; 11:583716. [PMID: 33262761 PMCID: PMC7685996 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.583716] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) engineered T cell therapies individually prepared for each patient with autologous T cells have recently changed clinical practice in the management of B cell malignancies. Even though CARs used to redirect polyclonal T cells to the tumor are not HLA restricted, CAR T cells are also characterized by their endogenous T cell receptor (TCR) repertoire. Tumor-antigen targeted TCR-based T cell therapies in clinical trials are thus far using “conventional” αβ-TCRs that recognize antigens presented as peptides in the context of the major histocompatibility complex. Thus, both CAR- and TCR-based adoptive T cell therapies (ACTs) are dictated by compatibility of the highly polymorphic HLA molecules between donors and recipients in order to avoid graft-versus-host disease and rejection. The development of third-party healthy donor derived well-characterized off-the-shelf cell therapy products that are readily available and broadly applicable is an intensive area of research. While genome engineering provides the tools to generate “universal” donor cells that can be redirected to cancers, we will focus our attention on third-party off-the-shelf strategies with T cells that are characterized by unique natural features and do not require genome editing for safe administration. Specifically, we will discuss the use of virus-specific T cells, lipid-restricted (CD1) T cells, MR1-restricted T cells, and γδ-TCR T cells. CD1- and MR1-restricted T cells are not HLA-restricted and have the potential to serve as a unique source of universal TCR sequences to be broadly applicable in TCR-based ACT as their targets are presented by the monomorphic CD1 or MR1 molecules on a wide variety of tumor types. For each cell type, we will summarize the stage of preclinical and clinical development and discuss opportunities and challenges to deliver off-the-shelf targeted cellular therapies against cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cynthia Perez
- Department of Oncology UNIL CHUV, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Lausanne, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Isabelle Gruber
- Department of Oncology UNIL CHUV, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Lausanne, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Caroline Arber
- Department of Oncology UNIL CHUV, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research Lausanne, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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Aoki T, Takami M, Takatani T, Motoyoshi K, Ishii A, Hara A, Toyoda T, Okada R, Hino M, Koyama-Nasu R, Kiuchi M, Hirahara K, Kimura MY, Nakayama T, Shimojo N, Motohashi S. Activated invariant natural killer T cells directly recognize leukemia cells in a CD1d-independent manner. Cancer Sci 2020; 111:2223-2233. [PMID: 32324315 PMCID: PMC7385353 DOI: 10.1111/cas.14428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2020] [Revised: 04/03/2020] [Accepted: 04/17/2020] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cells are innate‐like CD1d‐restricted T cells that express the invariant T cell receptor (TCR) composed of Vα24 and Vβ11 in humans. iNKT cells specifically recognize glycolipid antigens such as α‐galactosylceramide (αGalCer) presented by CD1d. iNKT cells show direct cytotoxicity toward CD1d‐positive tumor cells, especially when CD1d presents glycolipid antigens. However, iNKT cell recognition of CD1d‐negative tumor cells is unknown, and direct cytotoxicity of iNKT cells toward CD1d‐negative tumor cells remains controversial. Here, we demonstrate that activated iNKT cells recognize leukemia cells in a CD1d‐independent manner, however still in a TCR‐mediated way. iNKT cells degranulated and released Th1 cytokines toward CD1d‐negative leukemia cells (K562, HL‐60, REH) as well as αGalCer‐loaded CD1d‐positive Jurkat cells. The CD1d‐independent cytotoxicity was enhanced by natural killer cell‐activating receptors such as NKG2D, 2B4, DNAM‐1, LFA‐1 and CD2, but iNKT cells did not depend on these receptors for the recognition of CD1d‐negative leukemia cells. In contrast, TCR was essential for CD1d‐independent recognition and cytotoxicity. iNKT cells degranulated toward patient‐derived leukemia cells independently of CD1d expression. iNKT cells targeted myeloid malignancies more than acute lymphoblastic leukemia. These findings reveal a novel anti–tumor mechanism of iNKT cells in targeting CD1d‐negative tumor cells and indicate the potential of iNKT cells for clinical application to treat leukemia independently of CD1d.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takahiro Aoki
- Department of Medical Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.,Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Mariko Takami
- Department of Medical Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Tomozumi Takatani
- Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Kiwamu Motoyoshi
- Department of Medical Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Ayana Ishii
- Department of Medical Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Ayaka Hara
- Department of Medical Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Takahide Toyoda
- Department of Medical Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Reona Okada
- Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Moeko Hino
- Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Ryo Koyama-Nasu
- Department of Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Masahiro Kiuchi
- Department of Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Kiyoshi Hirahara
- Department of Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Motoko Y Kimura
- Department of Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Toshinori Nakayama
- Department of Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Naoki Shimojo
- Department of Pediatrics, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Shinichiro Motohashi
- Department of Medical Immunology, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
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Abstract
Most studies of T lymphocytes focus on recognition of classical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I or II molecules presenting oligopeptides, yet there are numerous variations and exceptions of biological significance based on recognition of a wide variety of nonclassical MHC molecules. These include αβ and γδ T cells that recognize different class Ib molecules (CD1, MR-1, HLA-E, G, F, et al.) that are nearly monomorphic within a given species. Collectively, these T cells can be considered “unconventional,” in part because they recognize lipids, metabolites, and modified peptides. Unlike classical MHC-specific cells, unconventional T cells generally exhibit limited T-cell antigen receptor (TCR) repertoires and often produce innate immune cell-like rapid effector responses. Exploiting this system in new generation vaccines for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), tuberculosis (TB), other infectious agents, and cancer was the focus of a recent workshop, “Immune Surveillance by Non-classical MHC Molecules: Improving Diversity for Antigens,” sponsored by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Here, we summarize salient points presented regarding the basic immunobiology of unconventional T cells, recent advances in methodologies to measure unconventional T-cell activity in diseases, and approaches to harness their considerable clinical potential.
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Consonni M, Dellabona P, Casorati G. Potential advantages of CD1-restricted T cell immunotherapy in cancer. Mol Immunol 2018; 103:200-208. [PMID: 30308433 DOI: 10.1016/j.molimm.2018.09.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2018] [Revised: 09/01/2018] [Accepted: 09/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) using tumor-specific "conventional" MHC-restricted T cells obtained from tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, or derived ex vivo by either antigen-specific expansion or genetic engineering of polyclonal T cell populations, shows great promise for cancer treatment. However, the wide applicability of this therapy finds limits in the high polymorphism of MHC molecules that restricts the use in the autologous context. CD1 antigen presenting molecules are nonpolymorphic and specialized for lipid antigen presentation to T cells. They are often expressed on malignant cells and, therefore, may represent an attractive target for ACT. We provide a brief overview of the CD1-resticted T cell response in tumor immunity and we discuss the pros and cons of ACT approaches based on unconventional CD1-restricted T cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michela Consonni
- Experimental Immunology Unit, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy.
| | - Paolo Dellabona
- Experimental Immunology Unit, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy
| | - Giulia Casorati
- Experimental Immunology Unit, Division of Immunology, Transplantation and Infectious Diseases, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milano, Italy
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