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Baulu E, Gardet C, Chuvin N, Depil S. TCR-engineered T cell therapy in solid tumors: State of the art and perspectives. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2023; 9:eadf3700. [PMID: 36791198 PMCID: PMC9931212 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf3700] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 74.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2022] [Accepted: 01/06/2023] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
T cell engineering has changed the landscape of cancer immunotherapy. Chimeric antigen receptor T cells have demonstrated a remarkable efficacy in the treatment of B cell malignancies in hematology. However, their clinical impact on solid tumors has been modest so far. T cells expressing an engineered T cell receptor (TCR-T cells) represent a promising therapeutic alternative. The target repertoire is not limited to membrane proteins, and intrinsic features of TCRs such as high antigen sensitivity and near-to-physiological signaling may improve tumor cell detection and killing while improving T cell persistence. In this review, we present the clinical results obtained with TCR-T cells targeting different tumor antigen families. We detail the different methods that have been developed to identify and optimize a TCR candidate. We also discuss the challenges of TCR-T cell therapies, including toxicity assessment and resistance mechanisms. Last, we share some perspectives and highlight future directions in the field.
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Affiliation(s)
- Estelle Baulu
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon, Lyon, France
- ErVaccine Technologies, Lyon, France
| | - Célia Gardet
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon, Lyon, France
| | | | - Stéphane Depil
- Centre de Recherche en Cancérologie de Lyon, Lyon, France
- ErVaccine Technologies, Lyon, France
- Centre Léon Bérard, Lyon, France
- Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Lyon, France
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2
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Duhen T, Gough MJ, Leidner RS, Stanton SE. Development and therapeutic manipulation of the head and neck cancer tumor environment to improve clinical outcomes. FRONTIERS IN ORAL HEALTH 2022; 3:902160. [PMID: 35937775 PMCID: PMC9354490 DOI: 10.3389/froh.2022.902160] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2022] [Accepted: 06/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The clinical response to cancer therapies involves the complex interplay between the systemic, tumoral, and stromal immune response as well as the direct impact of treatments on cancer cells. Each individual's immunological and cancer histories are different, and their carcinogen exposures may differ. This means that even though two patients with oral tumors may carry an identical mutation in TP53, they are likely to have different pre-existing immune responses to their tumors. These differences may arise due to their distinct accessory mutations, genetic backgrounds, and may relate to clinical factors including previous chemotherapy exposure and concurrent medical comorbidities. In isolation, their cancer cells may respond similarly to cancer therapy, but due to their baseline variability in pre-existing immune responses, patients can have different responses to identical therapies. In this review we discuss how the immune environment of tumors develops, the critical immune cell populations in advanced cancers, and how immune interventions can manipulate the immune environment of patients with pre-malignancies or advanced cancers to improve therapeutic outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael J. Gough
- Earle A. Chiles Research Institute, Providence Cancer Institute, Portland, OR, United States
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Homeostatic cytokines tune naivety and stemness of cord blood-derived transgenic T cells. Cancer Gene Ther 2022; 29:961-972. [PMID: 34645974 DOI: 10.1038/s41417-021-00395-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2021] [Revised: 08/28/2021] [Accepted: 09/28/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
Engineered T-cell therapies have proven to be successful in cancer and their clinical effectiveness is directly correlated with the infused T-cell differentiation profile. Indeed, stem cell memory and central memory T cells proliferate and persist longer in vivo compared with more-differentiated T cells, while conferring enhanced antitumor activity. Here, we propose an optimized process using cord blood (CB) to generate minimally differentiated T-cell products in terms of phenotype, function, gene expression, and metabolism, using peripheral blood (PB)-derived T cells cultured with IL-2 as a standard. Phenotypically, CB-derived T cells, particularly CD4 T cells, are less differentiated than their PB counterparts when cultured with IL-2 or with IL-7 and IL-15. Furthermore, culture with IL-7 and IL-15 enables better preservation of less-differentiated CB-derived T cells compared with IL-2. In addition, transcriptomic and metabolic assessments of CB-derived transgenic T cells cultured with IL-7 and IL-15 point out their naivety and stemness signature. These relatively quiescent transgenic T cells are nevertheless primed for secondary stimulation and cytokine production. In conclusion, our study indicates that CB may be used as a source of early differentiated T cells to develop more effective adoptive cancer immunotherapy.
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Koelle DM, Dong L, Jing L, Laing KJ, Zhu J, Jin L, Selke S, Wald A, Varon D, Huang ML, Johnston C, Corey L, Posavad CM. HSV-2-Specific Human Female Reproductive Tract Tissue Resident Memory T Cells Recognize Diverse HSV Antigens. Front Immunol 2022; 13:867962. [PMID: 35432373 PMCID: PMC9009524 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.867962] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2022] [Accepted: 03/07/2022] [Indexed: 01/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Antigen-specific TRM persist and protect against skin or female reproductive tract (FRT) HSV infection. As the pathogenesis of HSV differs between humans and model organisms, we focus on humans with well-characterized recurrent genital HSV-2 infection. Human CD8+ TRM persisting at sites of healed human HSV-2 lesions have an activated phenotype but it is unclear if TRM can be cultivated in vitro. We recovered HSV-specific TRM from genital skin and ectocervix biopsies, obtained after recovery from recurrent genital HSV-2, using ex vivo activation by viral antigen. Up to several percent of local T cells were HSV-reactive ex vivo. CD4 and CD8 T cell lines were up to 50% HSV-2-specific after sorting-based enrichment. CD8 TRM displayed HLA-restricted reactivity to specific HSV-2 peptides with high functional avidities. Reactivity to defined peptides persisted locally over several month and was quite subject-specific. CD4 TRM derived from biopsies, and from an extended set of cervical cytobrush specimens, also recognized diverse HSV-2 antigens and peptides. Overall we found that HSV-2-specific TRM are abundant in the FRT between episodes of recurrent genital herpes and maintain competency for expansion. Mucosal sites are accessible for clinical monitoring during immune interventions such as therapeutic vaccination.
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Affiliation(s)
- David M Koelle
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, United States.,Department of Global Health, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Department of Translational Research, Benaroya Research Institute, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Lichun Dong
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Lichen Jing
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Kerry J Laing
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Jia Zhu
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Lei Jin
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Stacy Selke
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Anna Wald
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, United States.,Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Dana Varon
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Meei-Li Huang
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Christine Johnston
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Lawrence Corey
- Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, United States
| | - Christine M Posavad
- Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, United States.,Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, United States
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Schreiber S, Honz M, Mamozai W, Kurktschiev P, Schiemann M, Witter K, Moore E, Zielinski C, Sette A, Protzer U, Wisskirchen K. Characterization of a library of 20 HBV-specific MHC class II-restricted T cell receptors. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev 2021; 23:476-489. [PMID: 34853796 PMCID: PMC8605085 DOI: 10.1016/j.omtm.2021.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/15/2021] [Revised: 09/27/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
CD4+ T cells play an important role in the immune response against cancer and infectious diseases. However, mechanistic details of their helper function in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in particular, or their advantage for adoptive T cell therapy remain poorly understood as experimental and therapeutic tools are missing. Therefore, we identified, cloned, and characterized a comprehensive library of 20 MHC class II-restricted HBV-specific T cell receptors (TCRs) from donors with acute or resolved HBV infection. The TCRs were restricted by nine different MHC II molecules and specific for eight different epitopes derived from intracellularly processed HBV envelope, core, and polymerase proteins. Retroviral transduction resulted in a robust expression of all TCRs on primary T cells. A high functional avidity was measured for all TCRs specific for epitopes S17, S21, S36, and P774 (half-maximal effective concentration [EC50] <10 nM), or C61 and preS9 (EC50 <100 nM). Eight TCRs recognized peptide variants of HBV genotypes A to D. Both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells transduced with the MHC II-restricted TCRs were polyfunctional, producing interferon (IFN)-γ, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-2, and granzyme B (GrzB), and killed peptide-loaded target cells. Our set of MHC class II-restricted TCRs represents an important tool for elucidating CD4+ T cell help in viral infection with potential benefit for T cell therapy.
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Welters MJP, Santegoets SJ, van der Burg SH. The Tumor Microenvironment and Immunotherapy of Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma. Front Oncol 2020; 10:545385. [PMID: 33425717 PMCID: PMC7793705 DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2020.545385] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/24/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) develops as a consequence of several mutations in the tumor suppressor pathways or after a progressive infection with high risk human papillomavirus (HPV). The dismal side effects of the current standard of care and the clear involvement of the immune system has led to a surge in clinical trials that aim to reinforce the tumor-specific immune response as a new treatment option. In this review, we have focused on the most recent literature to discuss the new findings and insights on the role of different immune cells in the context of OPSCC and its etiology. We then applied this knowledge to describe potential biomarkers and analyzed the rationale and outcomes of earlier and ongoing immunotherapy trials. Finally, we describe new developments that are still at the preclinical phase and provide an outlook on what the near future may bring, now that several new and exciting techniques to study the immune system at the single cell level are being exploited.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marij J P Welters
- Medical Oncology, Oncode Institute, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Saskia J Santegoets
- Medical Oncology, Oncode Institute, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
| | - Sjoerd H van der Burg
- Medical Oncology, Oncode Institute, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands
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