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Gan J, Cho JH, Lee R, Naghizadeh A, Poon LY, Wang E, Hui Z, Liu D. Methods of Machine Learning-Based Chimeric Antigen Receptor Immunological Synapse Quality Quantification. Methods Mol Biol 2023; 2654:493-502. [PMID: 37106203 PMCID: PMC10812845 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-3135-5_32] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/29/2023]
Abstract
Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-mediated immunotherapy shows promising results for refractory blood cancers. Currently, six CAR-T drugs have been approved by U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Theoretically, CAR-T cells must form an effective immunological synapse (IS, an interface between effective cells and their target cells) with their susceptible tumor cells to eliminate tumor cells. Previous studies show that CAR IS quality can be used as a predictive functional biomarker for CAR-T immunotherapies. However, quantification of CAR-T IS quality is clinically challenging. Machine learning (ML)-based CAR-T IS quality quantification has been proposed previously.Here, we show an easy-to-use, step-by-step approach to predicting the efficacy of CAR-modified cells using ML-based CAR IS quality quantification. This approach will guide the users on how to use ML-based CAR IS quality quantification in detail, which include: how to image CAR IS on the glass-supported planar lipid bilayer, how to define the CAR IS focal plane, how to segment the CAR IS images, and how to quantify the IS quality using ML-based algorithms.This approach will significantly enhance the accuracy and proficiency of CAR IS prediction in research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julian Gan
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Jong Hyun Cho
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
- Center for Immunity and Inflammation, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Ryan Lee
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Alireza Naghizadeh
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Ling Yue Poon
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Ethan Wang
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Zachary Hui
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA
| | - Dongfang Liu
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA.
- Center for Immunity and Inflammation, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ, USA.
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2
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Coënon L, Villalba M. From CD16a Biology to Antibody-Dependent Cell-Mediated Cytotoxicity Improvement. Front Immunol 2022; 13:913215. [PMID: 35720368 PMCID: PMC9203678 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.913215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2022] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) is a potent cytotoxic mechanism that is mainly mediated in humans by natural killer (NK) cells. ADCC mediates the clinical benefit of several widely used cytolytic monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), and increasing its efficacy would improve cancer immunotherapy. CD16a is a receptor for the Fc portion of IgGs and is responsible to trigger NK cell-mediated ADCC. The knowledge of the mechanism of action of CD16a gave rise to several strategies to improve ADCC, by working on either the mAbs or the NK cell. In this review, we give an overview of CD16a biology and describe the latest strategies employed to improve antibody-dependent NK cell cytotoxicity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loïs Coënon
- Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapy (IRMB), Univ Montpellier, Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM), Montpellier, France
- Institut du Cancer Avignon-Provence Sainte Catherine, Avignon, France
- *Correspondence: Loïs Coënon,
| | - Martin Villalba
- Institut du Cancer Avignon-Provence Sainte Catherine, Avignon, France
- Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapy, Univ Montpellier, Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM), Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS), Centre hospitalier universitaire (CHU) Montpellier, Montpellier, France
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3
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Tarannum M, Romee R, Shapiro RM. Innovative Strategies to Improve the Clinical Application of NK Cell-Based Immunotherapy. Front Immunol 2022; 13:859177. [PMID: 35401529 PMCID: PMC8990319 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.859177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Natural killer cells constitute a part of the innate immune system that mediates an effective immune response towards virus-infected and malignant cells. In recent years, research has focused on exploring and advancing NK cells as an active immunotherapy platform. Despite major advances, there are several key challenges that need to be addressed for the effective translation of NK cell research to clinical applications. This review highlights some of these challenges and the innovative strategies being developed to overcome them, including in vitro expansion, in vivo persistence, infiltration to the tumor site, and prevention of exhaustion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mubin Tarannum
- Division of Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Rizwan Romee
- Division of Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Roman M Shapiro
- Division of Stem Cell Transplant and Cellular Therapy, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
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4
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Naghizadeh A, Tsao WC, Hyun Cho J, Xu H, Mohamed M, Li D, Xiong W, Metaxas D, Ramos CA, Liu D. In vitro machine learning-based CAR T immunological synapse quality measurements correlate with patient clinical outcomes. PLoS Comput Biol 2022; 18:e1009883. [PMID: 35303007 PMCID: PMC8955962 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009883] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/27/2021] [Accepted: 01/28/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
The human immune system consists of a highly intelligent network of billions of independent, self-organized cells that interact with each other. Machine learning (ML) is an artificial intelligence (AI) tool that automatically processes huge amounts of image data. Immunotherapies have revolutionized the treatment of blood cancer. Specifically, one such therapy involves engineering immune cells to express chimeric antigen receptors (CAR), which combine tumor antigen specificity with immune cell activation in a single receptor. To improve their efficacy and expand their applicability to solid tumors, scientists optimize different CARs with different modifications. However, predicting and ranking the efficacy of different "off-the-shelf" immune products (e.g., CAR or Bispecific T-cell Engager [BiTE]) and selection of clinical responders are challenging in clinical practice. Meanwhile, identifying the optimal CAR construct for a researcher to further develop a potential clinical application is limited by the current, time-consuming, costly, and labor-intensive conventional tools used to evaluate efficacy. Particularly, more than 30 years of immunological synapse (IS) research data demonstrate that T cell efficacy is not only controlled by the specificity and avidity of the tumor antigen and T cell interaction, but also it depends on a collective process, involving multiple adhesion and regulatory molecules, as well as tumor microenvironment, spatially and temporally organized at the IS formed by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) and natural killer (NK) cells. The optimal function of cytotoxic lymphocytes (including CTL and NK) depends on IS quality. Recognizing the inadequacy of conventional tools and the importance of IS in immune cell functions, we investigate a new strategy for assessing CAR-T efficacy by quantifying CAR IS quality using the glass-support planar lipid bilayer system combined with ML-based data analysis. Previous studies in our group show that CAR-T IS quality correlates with antitumor activities in vitro and in vivo. However, current manually quantified IS quality data analysis is time-consuming and labor-intensive with low accuracy, reproducibility, and repeatability. In this study, we develop a novel ML-based method to quantify thousands of CAR cell IS images with enhanced accuracy and speed. Specifically, we used artificial neural networks (ANN) to incorporate object detection into segmentation. The proposed ANN model extracts the most useful information to differentiate different IS datasets. The network output is flexible and produces bounding boxes, instance segmentation, contour outlines (borders), intensities of the borders, and segmentations without borders. Based on requirements, one or a combination of this information is used in statistical analysis. The ML-based automated algorithm quantified CAR-T IS data correlates with the clinical responder and non-responder treated with Kappa-CAR-T cells directly from patients. The results suggest that CAR cell IS quality can be used as a potential composite biomarker and correlates with antitumor activities in patients, which is sufficiently discriminative to further test the CAR IS quality as a clinical biomarker to predict response to CAR immunotherapy in cancer. For translational research, the method developed here can also provide guidelines for designing and optimizing numerous CAR constructs for potential clinical development. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00881920.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alireza Naghizadeh
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
- Center for Immunity and Inflammation, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Wei-chung Tsao
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
- Center for Immunity and Inflammation, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Jong Hyun Cho
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
- Center for Immunity and Inflammation, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Hongye Xu
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
- Center for Immunity and Inflammation, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Mohab Mohamed
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
- Center for Immunity and Inflammation, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Dali Li
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Wei Xiong
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Dimitri Metaxas
- Department of Computer Science, Rutgers University, Piscataway Township, New Jersey, United States of America
| | - Carlos A. Ramos
- Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, United States of America
| | - Dongfang Liu
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
- Center for Immunity and Inflammation, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey, United States of America
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5
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Liu D, Badeti S, Dotti G, Jiang JG, Wang H, Dermody J, Soteropoulos P, Streck D, Birge RB, Liu C. The Role of Immunological Synapse in Predicting the Efficacy of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) Immunotherapy. Cell Commun Signal 2020; 18:134. [PMID: 32843053 PMCID: PMC7446110 DOI: 10.1186/s12964-020-00617-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2020] [Accepted: 06/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) immunotherapy utilizes genetically-engineered immune cells that express a unique cell surface receptor that combines tumor antigen specificity with immune cell activation. In recent clinical trials, the adoptive transfer of CAR-modified immune cells (including CAR-T and CAR-NK cells) into patients has been remarkably successful in treating multiple refractory blood cancers. To improve safety and efficacy, and expand potential applicability to other cancer types, CARs with different target specificities and sequence modifications are being developed and tested by many laboratories. Despite the overall progress in CAR immunotherapy, conventional tools to design and evaluate the efficacy and safety of CAR immunotherapies can be inaccurate, time-consuming, costly, and labor-intensive. Furthermore, existing tools cannot always determine how responsive individual patients will be to a particular CAR immunotherapy. Recent work in our laboratory suggests that the quality of the immunological synapse (IS) can accurately predict CAR-modified cell efficacy (and toxicity) that can correlate with clinical outcomes. Here we review current efforts to develop a Synapse Predicts Efficacy (SPE) system for easy, rapid and cost-effective evaluation of CAR-modified immune cell immunotherapy. Ultimately, we hypothesize the conceptual basis and clinical application of SPE will serve as an important parameter in evaluating CAR immunotherapy and significantly advance precision cancer immunotherapy. Video abstract
Graphical abstract Graphic abstract for manuscript CCAS-D-20-00136 by Liu, D., et al., ‘The Role of Immunological Synapse in Predicting the Efficacy of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) Immunotherapy”. The various branches of evaluating cancer immunotherapy metaphorically represented as a Rubik’s cube. The development of a novel approach to predict the effectiveness of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR)-modified cells by quantifying the quality of CAR IS will introduce a new parameter to the rapidly expanding field of cancer immunotherapy. Currently, no single parameter can predict the clinical outcome or efficacy of a specific type of CAR-modified cell. IS quality will serve as a quantifiable measure to evaluate CAR products and can be used in conjunction with other conventional parameters to form a composite clinical predictor. Much like a Rubik’s cube has countless configurations, several methods and combinations of clinical metrics have arisen for evaluating the ability of a given immunotherapeutic strategy to treat cancer. The quality of IS depicting cancer immunotherapy is metaphorically expressed as a Rubik’s cube. Each face/color represents one aspect of cancer therapy. Each grid in one face indicates one factor within that aspect of cancer therapy. For example, the green color represents the tumor microenvironment, and one out of the nine grids in the green color indicates suppressor cells (suppressors in green). Changes in one factor may completely alter the entire strategy of cancer therapy. However, the quality of IS (illuminated center red grid) makes the effectiveness of CAR immunotherapy predictable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongfang Liu
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University- New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA. .,Center for Immunity and Inflammation, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07101, USA.
| | - Saiaditya Badeti
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University- New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - Gianpietro Dotti
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - Jie-Gen Jiang
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University- New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - He Wang
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University- New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - James Dermody
- Institute of Genomic Medicine, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - Patricia Soteropoulos
- Institute of Genomic Medicine, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - Deanna Streck
- Institute of Genomic Medicine, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - Raymond B Birge
- Department of Microbiology, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers-The State University of New Jersey, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA
| | - Chen Liu
- Department of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine, Rutgers University- New Jersey Medical School, 185 South Orange Avenue, Newark, NJ, 07103, USA.,Department of Pathology, Yale School of Medicine, Yale University, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT, 06510, USA
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6
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Murin CD. Considerations of Antibody Geometric Constraints on NK Cell Antibody Dependent Cellular Cytotoxicity. Front Immunol 2020; 11:1635. [PMID: 32849559 PMCID: PMC7406664 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.01635] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2020] [Accepted: 06/18/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
It has been well-established that antibody isotype, glycosylation, and epitope all play roles in the process of antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC). For natural killer (NK) cells, these phenotypes are linked to cellular activation through interaction with the IgG receptor FcγRIIIa, a single pass transmembrane receptor that participates in cytoplasmic signaling complexes. Therefore, it has been hypothesized that there may be underlying spatial and geometric principles that guide proper assembly of an activation complex within the NK cell immune synapse. Further, synergy of antibody phenotypic properties as well as allosteric changes upon antigen binding may also play an as-of-yet unknown role in ADCC. Understanding these facets, however, remains hampered by difficulties associated with studying immune synapse dynamics using classical approaches. In this review, I will discuss relevant NK cell biology related to ADCC, including the structural biology of Fc gamma receptors, and how the dynamics of the NK cell immune synapse are being studied using innovative microscopy techniques. I will provide examples from the literature demonstrating the effects of spatial and geometric constraints on the T cell receptor complex and how this relates to intracellular signaling and the molecular nature of lymphocyte activation complexes, including those of NK cells. Finally, I will examine how the integration of high-throughput and "omics" technologies will influence basic NK cell biology research moving forward. Overall, the goal of this review is to lay a basis for understanding the development of drugs and therapeutic antibodies aimed at augmenting appropriate NK cell ADCC activity in patients being treated for a wide range of illnesses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles D. Murin
- Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, Scripps Research, La Jolla, CA, United States
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7
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Le Saux G, Schvartzman M. Advanced Materials and Devices for the Regulation and Study of NK Cells. Int J Mol Sci 2019; 20:E646. [PMID: 30717370 PMCID: PMC6386824 DOI: 10.3390/ijms20030646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2018] [Revised: 01/24/2019] [Accepted: 01/29/2019] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Natural Killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes that contribute to immune protection by cytosis, cytokine secretion, and regulation of adaptive responses of T cells. NK cells distinguish between healthy and ill cells, and generate a cytotoxic response, being cumulatively regulated by environmental signals delivered through their diverse receptors. Recent advances in biomaterials and device engineering paved the way to numerous artificial microenvironments for cells, which produce synthetic signals identical or similar to those provided by the physiological environment. In this paper, we review recent advances in materials and devices for artificial signaling, which have been applied to regulate NK cells, and systematically study the role of these signals in NK cell function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guillaume Le Saux
- Department of Materials Engineering, Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.
| | - Mark Schvartzman
- Department of Materials Engineering, Ilse Katz Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel.
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8
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A Protocol to Study T-Cell Signaling in an Immune Synapse by Microscopy. Methods Mol Biol 2019. [PMID: 30610606 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-9036-8_15] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
Abstract
The immune synapse is a complex cellular structure that enables cell-cell communications between immune cells, mainly at the interface of an effector T-cell and an antigen-presenting cell (APC) that expresses the appropriate peptide-MHC complexes. With progressive technological advances, there has been increasing interest in understanding molecular events that take place in motile T-lymphocytes at the immune synapse. Here, we provide an optimized method to induce the formation of an immune synapse between a T-cell and an APC in vitro. The experimental protocol described herein would be useful in characterizing the role of cell surface molecules and downstream signaling pathways in the context of cell-to-cell communications between T-cells and APCs.
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9
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Jenkins E, Santos AM, O'Brien-Ball C, Felce JH, Wilcock MJ, Hatherley D, Dustin ML, Davis SJ, Eggeling C, Sezgin E. Reconstitution of immune cell interactions in free-standing membranes. J Cell Sci 2018; 132:jcs219709. [PMID: 30209137 PMCID: PMC6398472 DOI: 10.1242/jcs.219709] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2018] [Accepted: 09/04/2018] [Indexed: 12/28/2022] Open
Abstract
The spatiotemporal regulation of signalling proteins at the contacts formed between immune cells and their targets determines how and when immune responses begin and end. Therapeutic control of immune responses therefore relies on thorough elucidation of the molecular processes occurring at these interfaces. However, the detailed investigation of each component's contribution to the formation and regulation of the contact is hampered by the complexities of cell composition and architecture. Moreover, the transient nature of these interactions creates additional challenges, especially in the use of advanced imaging technology. One approach that circumvents these problems is to establish in vitro systems that faithfully mimic immune cell interactions, but allow complexity to be 'dialled-in' as needed. Here, we present an in vitro system that makes use of synthetic vesicles that mimic important aspects of immune cell surfaces. Using this system, we began to explore the spatial distribution of signalling molecules (receptors, kinases and phosphatases) and how this changes during the initiation of signalling. The GUV/cell system presented here is expected to be widely applicable.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edward Jenkins
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Ana Mafalda Santos
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Caitlin O'Brien-Ball
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
| | - James H Felce
- Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7FY, UK
| | - Martin J Wilcock
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Deborah Hatherley
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Michael L Dustin
- Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 7FY, UK
| | - Simon J Davis
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
| | - Christian Eggeling
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
- Institute of Applied Optics Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Max-Wien Platz 4, 07743 Jena, Germany
- Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology e.V., Albert-Einstein-Straße 9, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Erdinc Sezgin
- MRC Human Immunology Unit, Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX3 9DS, UK
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10
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Xiong W, Chen Y, Kang X, Chen Z, Zheng P, Hsu YH, Jang JH, Qin L, Liu H, Dotti G, Liu D. Immunological Synapse Predicts Effectiveness of Chimeric Antigen Receptor Cells. Mol Ther 2018; 26:963-975. [PMID: 29503199 PMCID: PMC6080133 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2018.01.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/22/2015] [Revised: 01/19/2018] [Accepted: 01/25/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cell therapy has the potential to improve the overall survival of patients with malignancies by enhancing the effectiveness of CAR T cells. Precisely predicting the effectiveness of various CAR T cells represents one of today’s key unsolved problems in immunotherapy. Here, we predict the effectiveness of CAR-modified cells by evaluating the quality of the CAR-mediated immunological synapse (IS) by quantitation of F-actin, clustering of tumor antigen, polarization of lytic granules (LGs), and distribution of key signaling molecules within the IS. Long-term killing capability, but not secretion of conventional cytokines or standard 4-hr cytotoxicity, correlates positively with the quality of the IS in two different CAR T cells that share identical antigen specificity. Xenograft model data confirm that the quality of the IS in vitro correlates positively with performance of CAR-modified immune cells in vivo. Therefore, we propose that the quality of the IS predicts the effectiveness of CAR-modified immune cells, which provides a novel strategy to guide CAR therapy.
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MESH Headings
- Animals
- Antigens, CD19/immunology
- Antigens, Neoplasm/immunology
- Biomarkers
- Cell Line
- Cytokines/metabolism
- Cytotoxicity, Immunologic
- Disease Models, Animal
- Gene Expression
- Gene Order
- Genes, Reporter
- Genetic Vectors/genetics
- Humans
- Immunological Synapses/immunology
- Immunological Synapses/metabolism
- Immunotherapy, Adoptive/methods
- Mice
- Microscopy, Confocal
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/genetics
- Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/metabolism
- Receptors, Chimeric Antigen/genetics
- Receptors, Chimeric Antigen/metabolism
- Retroviridae/genetics
- T-Lymphocytes/immunology
- T-Lymphocytes/metabolism
- Transduction, Genetic
- Xenograft Model Antitumor Assays
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Xiong
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Yuhui Chen
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Xi Kang
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Zhiying Chen
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030, USA; Xiangya Hospital, Xiangya School of Medicine, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410008, P.R. China
| | - Peilin Zheng
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Yi-Hsin Hsu
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Joon Hee Jang
- Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Lidong Qin
- Department of Nanomedicine, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Hao Liu
- Biostatistics Core of the Dan L. Duncan Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, USA
| | - Gianpietro Dotti
- Center for Cell and Gene Therapy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology and Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA
| | - Dongfang Liu
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Ave., Houston, TX 77030, USA; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
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11
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Bertolet G, Liu D. The Planar Lipid Bilayer System Serves as a Reductionist Approach for Studying NK Cell Immunological Synapses and Their Functions. Methods Mol Biol 2017; 1441:151-65. [PMID: 27177664 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-3684-7_13] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/26/2023]
Abstract
The immunological synapse (IS) is the junction between an immune cell (e.g., a T or NK cell) and another cell (e.g., an antigen-presenting cell (APC), or a tumor cell). The formation of the IS is crucial for cell-mediated immunity, and as such, an understanding of both the composition of the IS and the factors that drive its formation are essential for understanding how and when NK cells eliminate susceptible target cells. The supported lipid bilayer (SLB) system is a highly effective tool for directly studying the IS. SLBs confer three main advantages: (1) they allow for synapse formation on a level horizontal surface, allowing for direct visualization of the IS under high resolution imaging systems, (2) they mimic the surface of a target cell by providing a fluid mosaic into which surface proteins can be embedded while permitting free motion in two dimensions, which is important for studying the dynamics of synapse formation, and (3) they allow investigators to determine the exact composition of the bilayer, thus in turn allowing them to answer very specific questions about the IS. It is our hope that this chapter will furnish readers with an awareness of the applications of the SLB system for studying the IS in NK cells, and also of a basic knowledge of how to use this system for themselves.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grant Bertolet
- Department of Pathology and Immunology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, USA
| | - Dongfang Liu
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, 6670 Bertner Avenue, Houston, TX, 77030, USA.
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Liu D, Tian S, Zhang K, Xiong W, Lubaki NM, Chen Z, Han W. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified natural killer cell-based immunotherapy and immunological synapse formation in cancer and HIV. Protein Cell 2017; 8:861-877. [PMID: 28488245 PMCID: PMC5712291 DOI: 10.1007/s13238-017-0415-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2017] [Accepted: 04/22/2017] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) and natural killer (NK) cells contribute to the body’s immune defenses. Current chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cell immunotherapy shows strong promise for treating various cancers and infectious diseases. Although CAR-modified NK cell immunotherapy is rapidly gaining attention, its clinical applications are mainly focused on preclinical investigations using the NK92 cell line. Despite recent advances in CAR-modified T cell immunotherapy, cost and severe toxicity have hindered its widespread use. To alleviate these disadvantages of CAR-modified T cell immunotherapy, additional cytotoxic cell-mediated immunotherapies are urgently needed. The unique biology of NK cells allows them to serve as a safe, effective, alternative immunotherapeutic strategy to CAR-modified T cells in the clinic. While the fundamental mechanisms underlying the cytotoxicity and side effects of CAR-modified T and NK cell immunotherapies remain poorly understood, the formation of the immunological synapse (IS) between CAR-modified T or NK cells and their susceptible target cells is known to be essential. The role of the IS in CAR T and NK cell immunotherapies will allow scientists to harness the power of CAR-modified T and NK cells to treat cancer and infectious diseases. In this review, we highlight the potential applications of CAR-modified NK cells to treat cancer and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and discuss the challenges and possible future directions of CAR-modified NK cell immunotherapy, as well as the importance of understanding the molecular mechanisms of CAR-modified T cell- or NK cell-mediated cytotoxicity and side effects, with a focus on the CAR-modified NK cell IS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dongfang Liu
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, 77030, USA. .,Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, NY, 10065, USA.
| | - Shuo Tian
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Kai Zhang
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Wei Xiong
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Ndongala Michel Lubaki
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Zhiying Chen
- Center for Inflammation and Epigenetics, Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, TX, 77030, USA
| | - Weidong Han
- Institute of Basic Medicine, College of Life Sciences, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, 100853, China.
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13
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Analysis of T Cell Activation by Confocal Microscopy. Methods Mol Biol 2016. [PMID: 27787792 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4939-6548-9_5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register]
Abstract
Antigen-recognition by T cells requires the physical association with an antigen presenting cell (APC). At the interface between a T cell and an APC, the orchestrated redistribution of lipids, membrane receptors, and intracellular adaptors assembles a highly specialized junction, controlling the communication between the two cells, named the immunologic synapse (IS). The proper organization of the IS is a key step in host defense. Indeed, an appropriate T cell-APC interaction ensures the elimination of a wide range of pathogens and aberrant cells, whereas a deregulated IS formation leads to pathological situations such as infections, tumor development, or autoimmunity. Over the last decades T-cell scientists pioneered new imaging approaches to investigate IS assembly and organization. Microscopy techniques enable researchers to directly monitor, in space and time, the dynamics regulating T cell activation.In this chapter, we describe in detail different microscopy protocols to visualize and analyze the recruitment of different molecules and organelles at the IS.
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Crites TJ, Maddox M, Padhan K, Muller J, Eigsti C, Varma R. Supported Lipid Bilayer Technology for the Study of Cellular Interfaces. CURRENT PROTOCOLS IN CELL BIOLOGY 2015; 68:24.5.1-24.5.31. [PMID: 26331983 PMCID: PMC4605915 DOI: 10.1002/0471143030.cb2405s68] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
Abstract
Glass-supported lipid bilayers presenting freely diffusing proteins have served as a powerful tool for studying cell-cell interfaces, in particular, T cell-antigen presenting cell (APC) interactions, using optical microscopy. Here we expand upon existing protocols and describe the preparation of liposomes by an extrusion method, and describe how this system can be used to study immune synapse formation by Jurkat cells. We also present a method for forming such lipid bilayers on silica beads for the study of signaling responses by population methods, such as western blotting, flow cytometry, and gene-expression analysis. Finally, we describe how to design and prepare transmembrane-anchored protein-laden liposomes, following expression in suspension CHO (CHOs) cells, a mammalian expression system alternative to insect and bacterial cell lines, which do not produce mammalian glycosylation patterns. Such transmembrane-anchored proteins may have many novel applications in cell biology and immunology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Travis J Crites
- Laboratory of Systems Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
- These authors contributed equally to this work
| | - Michael Maddox
- Laboratory of Systems Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
- These authors contributed equally to this work
| | - Kartika Padhan
- Laboratory of Systems Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - James Muller
- Laboratory of Systems Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
- Molecular Pathogenesis Program, Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine, Department of Pathology, New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York
| | - Calvin Eigsti
- Flow Cytometry Section, Research Technologies Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
| | - Rajat Varma
- Laboratory of Systems Biology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
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