Rhinovirus Suppresses TGF-β-GARP Presentation by Peripheral NK Cells

Beyond CAR-T: The rise of CAR-NK cell therapy in asthma immunotherapy

Asthma poses a major public health burden. While existing asthma drugs manage symptoms for many, some patients remain resistant. The lack of a cure, especially for severe asthma, compels exploration of novel therapies. Cancer immunotherapy successes with CAR-T cells suggest its potential for asthma treatment. Researchers are exploring various approaches for allergic diseases including membrane-bound IgE, IL-5, PD-L2, and CTLA-4 for asthma, and Dectin-1 for fungal asthma. NK cells offer several advantages over T cells for CAR-based immunotherapy. They offer key benefits: (1) HLA compatibility, meaning they can be used in a wider range of patients without the need for matching tissue types. (2) Minimal side effects (CRS and GVHD) due to their limited persistence and cytokine profile. (3) Scalability for "off-the-shelf" production from various sources. Several strategies have been introduced that highlight the superiority and challenges of CAR-NK cell therapy for asthma treatment including IL-10, IFN-γ, ADCC, perforin-granzyme, FASL, KIR, NCRs (NKP46), DAP, DNAM-1, TGF-β, TNF-α, CCL, NKG2A, TF, and EGFR. Furthermore, we advocate for incorporating AI for CAR design optimization and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology for precise gene manipulation to generate highly effective CAR constructs. This review will delve into the evolution and production of CAR designs, explore pre-clinical and clinical studies of CAR-based therapies in asthma, analyze strategies to optimize CAR-NK cell function, conduct a comparative analysis of CAR-T and CAR-NK cell therapy with their respective challenges, and finally present established novel CAR designs with promising potential for asthma treatment.

Poly I:C Pre-Treatment Induced the Anti-Viral Interferon Response in Airway Epithelial Cells

Type I and III interferons are among the most important antiviral mediators. Increased susceptibility to infections has been described as being associated with impaired interferon response in asthmatic patients. In this work, we focused on the modulation of interferon dysfunction after the rhinovirus infection of airway epithelial cells. Therefore, we tested polyinosinic:polycytidylic acid (poly I:C), a TLR3 agonist, as a possible preventive pre-treatment to improve this anti-viral response. In our human study on asthma, we found a deficiency in interferon levels in the nasal epithelial cells (NEC) from asthmatics at homeostatic level and after RV infection, which might contribute to frequent airway infection seen in asthmatic patients compared to healthy controls. Finally, pre-treatment with the immunomodulatory substance poly I:C before RV infection restored IFN responses in airway epithelial cells. Altogether, we consider poly I:C pre-treatment as a promising strategy for the induction of interferon response prior to viral infections. These results might help to improve current therapeutic strategies for allergic asthma exacerbations.

Replication of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) Delmarva (DMV)/1639 variant in primary and secondary lymphoid organs leads to immunosuppression in chickens

Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) that primarily causes respiratory infection in chickens, disseminate to multiple body systems leading to pathology, results in economic losses to poultry industry. IBV replicates in the bursa of Fabricius (BF), Harderian gland (HG), cecal tonsils (CT), and spleen. The objective of this study was to investigate the immunosuppressive effect of IBV Delmarva (DMV/1639) variant in chickens. Specific pathogen free chickens were infected with the IBV DMV/1639 variant while maintaining an age-matched uninfected control group. At predetermined time points, subsets of the infected and control chickens were observed for changes in body weights and pathological changes. The histopathological lesions were observed in the CT and BF, with minimal lesions in the thymus and spleen. The mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory mediators suggested immunomodulation by IBV, favoring viral replication. Further studies are warranted to observe the functional impact of the IBV DMV/1639 variant's replication in immune organs.