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Casey NP, Kleinmanns K, Forcados C, Gelebart PF, Joaquina S, Lode M, Benard E, Kaveh F, Caulier B, Helgestad Gjerde C, García de Jalón E, Warren DJ, Lindemann K, Rokkones E, Davidson B, Myhre MR, Kvalheim G, Bjørge L, McCormack E, Inderberg EM, Wälchli S. Efficient CAR T cell targeting of the CA125 extracellular repeat domain of MUC16. J Immunother Cancer 2024; 12:e008179. [PMID: 38604812 PMCID: PMC11015285 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2023-008179] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Ovarian cancer (OC) is the leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancies in the Western world. Contributing factors include a high frequency of late-stage diagnosis, the development of chemoresistance, and the evasion of host immune responses. Currently, debulking surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy are the treatment cornerstones, although recurrence is common. As the clinical efficacy of immune checkpoint blockade is low, new immunotherapeutic strategies are needed. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy empowers patients' own T cells to fight and eradicate cancer, and has been tested against various targets in OC. A promising candidate is the MUC16 ectodomain. This ectodomain remains on the cell surface after cleavage of cancer antigen 125 (CA125), the domain distal from the membrane, which is currently used as a serum biomarker for OC. CA125 itself has not been tested as a possible CAR target. In this study, we examined the suitability of the CA125 as a target for CAR T cell therapy. METHODS We tested a series of antibodies raised against the CA125 extracellular repeat domain of MUC16 and adapted them to the CAR format. Comparisons between these candidates, and against an existing CAR targeting the MUC16 ectodomain, identified K101 as having high potency and specificity. The K101CAR was subjected to further biochemical and functional tests, including examination of the effect of soluble CA125 on its activity. Finally, we used cell lines and advanced orthotopic patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models to validate, in vivo, the efficiency of our K101CAR construct. RESULTS We observed a high efficacy of K101CAR T cells against cell lines and patient-derived tumors, in vitro and in vivo. We also demonstrated that K101CAR functionality was not impaired by the soluble antigen. Finally, in direct comparisons, K101CAR, which targets the CA125 extracellular repeat domains, was shown to have similar efficacy to the previously validated 4H11CAR, which targets the MUC16 ectodomain. CONCLUSIONS Our in vitro and in vivo results, including PDX studies, demonstrate that the CA125 domain of MUC16 represents an excellent target for treating MUC16-positive malignancies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas P Casey
- Translational Research Unit, Section of Cellular Therapy, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Katrin Kleinmanns
- Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Christopher Forcados
- Translational Research Unit, Section of Cellular Therapy, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Pascal F Gelebart
- Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Sandy Joaquina
- Translational Research Unit, Section of Cellular Therapy, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Martine Lode
- Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Emmanuelle Benard
- Translational Research Unit, Section of Cellular Therapy, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Fatemeh Kaveh
- Translational Research Unit, Section of Cellular Therapy, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Benjamin Caulier
- Translational Research Unit, Section of Cellular Therapy, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Center for Cancer Cell Reprogramming (CanCell), Institute for Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Christiane Helgestad Gjerde
- Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Elvira García de Jalón
- Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - David J Warren
- Department of Medical Biochemistry, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Kristina Lindemann
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Institute for Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Erik Rokkones
- Department of Gynecologic Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ben Davidson
- Institute for Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Pathology, Division of Laboratory Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Marit Renee Myhre
- Translational Research Unit, Section of Cellular Therapy, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Gunnar Kvalheim
- Translational Research Unit, Section of Cellular Therapy, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Line Bjørge
- Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Emmet McCormack
- Centre for Cancer Biomarkers CCBIO, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Centre for Pharmacy, Department of Clinical Science, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Internal Medicine, Hematology Section, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Else Marit Inderberg
- Translational Research Unit, Section of Cellular Therapy, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Sébastien Wälchli
- Translational Research Unit, Section of Cellular Therapy, Department of Oncology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
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Joaquina S, Forcados C, Caulier B, Inderberg EM, Wälchli S. Determination of CAR T cell metabolism in an optimized protocol. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2023; 11:1207576. [PMID: 37409169 PMCID: PMC10318902 DOI: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1207576] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2023] [Accepted: 06/12/2023] [Indexed: 07/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Adoptive transfer of T cells modified to express chimeric antigenic receptors (CAR) has emerged as a solution to cure refractory malignancies. However, although CAR T cell treatment of haematological cancers has now shown impressive improvement in outcome, solid tumours have been more challenging to control. The latter type is protected by a strong tumour microenvironment (TME) which might impact cellular therapeutic treatments. Indeed, the milieu around the tumour can become particularly inhibitory to T cells by directly affecting their metabolism. Consequently, the therapeutic cells become physically impeded before being able to attack the tumour. It is therefore extremely important to understand the mechanism behind this metabolic break in order to develop TME-resistant CAR T cells. Historically, the measurement of cellular metabolism has been performed at a low throughput which only permitted a limited number of measurements. However, this has been changed by the introduction of real-time technologies which have lately become more popular to study CAR T cell quality. Unfortunately, the published protocols lack uniformity and their interpretation become confusing. We herein tested the essential parameters to perform a metabolic study on CAR T cells and propose a check list of factors that should be set in order to draw sound conclusion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandy Joaquina
- Translational Research Unit, Department of Cellular Therapy, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Christopher Forcados
- Translational Research Unit, Department of Cellular Therapy, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Benjamin Caulier
- Translational Research Unit, Department of Cellular Therapy, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Center for Cancer Cell Reprogramming (CanCell), Institute for Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Else Marit Inderberg
- Translational Research Unit, Department of Cellular Therapy, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Sébastien Wälchli
- Translational Research Unit, Department of Cellular Therapy, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
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Abstract
The manufacture of efficacious CAR T cells represents a major challenge in cellular therapy. An important aspect of their quality concerns energy production and consumption, known as metabolism. T cells tend to adopt diverse metabolic profiles depending on their differentiation state and their stimulation level. It is therefore expected that the introduction of a synthetic molecule such as CAR, activating endogenous signaling pathways, will affect metabolism. In addition, upon patient treatment, the tumor microenvironment might influence the CAR T cell metabolism by compromising the energy resources. The access to novel technology with higher throughput and reduced cost has led to an increased interest in studying metabolism. Indeed, methods to quantify glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration have been available for decades but were rarely applied in the context of CAR T cell therapy before the release of the Seahorse XF apparatus. The present review will focus on the use of this instrument in the context of studies describing the impact of CAR on T cell metabolism and the strategies to render of CAR T cells more metabolically fit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher Forcados
- Translational Research Unit, Department of Cellular Therapy, Oslo University Hospital, 0379 Oslo, Norway; (C.F.); (S.J.); (N.P.C.); (B.C.)
| | - Sandy Joaquina
- Translational Research Unit, Department of Cellular Therapy, Oslo University Hospital, 0379 Oslo, Norway; (C.F.); (S.J.); (N.P.C.); (B.C.)
| | - Nicholas Paul Casey
- Translational Research Unit, Department of Cellular Therapy, Oslo University Hospital, 0379 Oslo, Norway; (C.F.); (S.J.); (N.P.C.); (B.C.)
| | - Benjamin Caulier
- Translational Research Unit, Department of Cellular Therapy, Oslo University Hospital, 0379 Oslo, Norway; (C.F.); (S.J.); (N.P.C.); (B.C.)
- Center for Cancer Cell Reprogramming (CanCell), Institute for Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, 0372 Oslo, Norway
- Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, 0379 Oslo, Norway
| | - Sébastien Wälchli
- Translational Research Unit, Department of Cellular Therapy, Oslo University Hospital, 0379 Oslo, Norway; (C.F.); (S.J.); (N.P.C.); (B.C.)
- Correspondence:
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