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Cieniewicz B, Bhatta A, Torabi D, Baichoo P, Saxton M, Arballo A, Nguyen L, Thomas S, Kethar H, Kukutla P, Shoaga O, Yu B, Yang Z, Fate M, Oliveira E, Ning H, Corey L, Corey D. Chimeric TIM-4 receptor-modified T cells targeting phosphatidylserine mediates both cytotoxic anti-tumor responses and phagocytic uptake of tumor-associated antigen for T cell cross-presentation. Mol Ther 2023; 31:2132-2153. [PMID: 37194236 PMCID: PMC10362418 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2023.05.009] [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] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2023] [Revised: 04/28/2023] [Accepted: 05/12/2023] [Indexed: 05/18/2023] Open
Abstract
To leverage complementary mechanisms for cancer cell removal, we developed a novel cell engineering and therapeutic strategy co-opting phagocytic clearance and antigen presentation activity into T cells. We engineered a chimeric engulfment receptor (CER)-1236, which combines the extracellular domain of TIM-4, a phagocytic receptor recognizing the "eat me" signal phosphatidylserine, with intracellular signaling domains (TLR2/TIR, CD28, and CD3ζ) to enhance both TIM-4-mediated phagocytosis and T cell cytotoxic function. CER-1236 T cells demonstrate target-dependent phagocytic function and induce transcriptional signatures of key regulators responsible for phagocytic recognition and uptake, along with cytotoxic mediators. Pre-clinical models of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and EGFR mutation-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) demonstrate collaborative innate-adaptive anti-tumor immune responses both in vitro and in vivo. Treatment with BTK (MCL) and EGFR (NSCLC) inhibitors increased target ligand, conditionally driving CER-1236 function to augment anti-tumor responses. We also show that activated CER-1236 T cells exhibit superior cross-presentation ability compared with conventional T cells, triggering E7-specific TCR T responses in an HLA class I- and TLR-2-dependent manner, thereby overcoming the limited antigen presentation capacity of conventional T cells. Therefore, CER-1236 T cells have the potential to achieve tumor control by eliciting both direct cytotoxic effects and indirect-mediated cross-priming.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ankit Bhatta
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Damoun Torabi
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Priya Baichoo
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Mike Saxton
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | | | - Linh Nguyen
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Sunil Thomas
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Harini Kethar
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | | | - Omolola Shoaga
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Bi Yu
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Zhuo Yang
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Maria Fate
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Edson Oliveira
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Hongxiu Ning
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Lawrence Corey
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Daniel Corey
- Cero Therapeutics Inc, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA.
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