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Jaeger-Ruckstuhl CA, Lo Y, Fulton E, Waltner OG, Shabaneh TB, Simon S, Muthuraman PV, Correnti CE, Newsom OJ, Engstrom IA, Kanaan SB, Bhise SS, Peralta JMC, Ruff R, Price JP, Stull SM, Stevens AR, Bugos G, Kluesner MG, Voillet V, Muhunthan V, Morrish F, Olson JM, Gottardo R, Sarthy JF, Henikoff S, Sullivan LB, Furlan SN, Riddell SR. Signaling via a CD27-TRAF2-SHP-1 axis during naive T cell activation promotes memory-associated gene regulatory networks. Immunity 2024; 57:287-302.e12. [PMID: 38354704 DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2024.01.011] [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: 02/27/2023] [Revised: 09/26/2023] [Accepted: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024]
Abstract
The interaction of the tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR) family member CD27 on naive CD8+ T (Tn) cells with homotrimeric CD70 on antigen-presenting cells (APCs) is necessary for T cell memory fate determination. Here, we examined CD27 signaling during Tn cell activation and differentiation. In conjunction with T cell receptor (TCR) stimulation, ligation of CD27 by a synthetic trimeric CD70 ligand triggered CD27 internalization and degradation, suggesting active regulation of this signaling axis. Internalized CD27 recruited the signaling adaptor TRAF2 and the phosphatase SHP-1, thereby modulating TCR and CD28 signals. CD27-mediated modulation of TCR signals promoted transcription factor circuits that induced memory rather than effector associated gene programs, which are induced by CD28 costimulation. CD27-costimulated chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-engineered T cells exhibited improved tumor control compared with CD28-costimulated CAR-T cells. Thus, CD27 signaling during Tn cell activation promotes memory properties with relevance to T cell immunotherapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla A Jaeger-Ruckstuhl
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
| | - Yun Lo
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Elena Fulton
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Olivia G Waltner
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Tamer B Shabaneh
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Sylvain Simon
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Pranav V Muthuraman
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Colin E Correnti
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Oliver J Newsom
- Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Ian A Engstrom
- Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Sami B Kanaan
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Shruti S Bhise
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Jobelle M C Peralta
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Raymond Ruff
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
| | - Jason P Price
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
| | - Sylvia M Stull
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Andrew R Stevens
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Grace Bugos
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Mitchell G Kluesner
- Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Valentin Voillet
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Vishaka Muhunthan
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Fionnuala Morrish
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - James M Olson
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
| | - Raphaël Gottardo
- Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Department of Statistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, University of Lausanne and Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne 1011, Switzerland
| | - Jay F Sarthy
- Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA 98105, USA; Basic Science Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Steven Henikoff
- Basic Science Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
| | - Lucas B Sullivan
- Human Biology Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA
| | - Scott N Furlan
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Seattle Children's Hospital, Seattle, WA 98105, USA
| | - Stanley R Riddell
- Translational Sciences and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA; Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
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Shabaneh TB, Stevens AR, Stull SM, Shimp KR, Seaton BW, Gad EA, Jaeger-Ruckstuhl CA, Simon S, Koehne AL, Price JP, Olson JM, Hoffstrom BG, Jellyman D, Riddell SR. Systemically administered low-affinity HER2 CAR T cells mediate antitumor efficacy without toxicity. J Immunother Cancer 2024; 12:e008566. [PMID: 38325903 DOI: 10.1136/jitc-2023-008566] [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] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 02/09/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The paucity of tumor-specific targets for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy of solid tumors necessitates careful preclinical evaluation of the therapeutic window for candidate antigens. Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) is an attractive candidate for CAR T-cell therapy in humans but has the potential for eliciting on-target off-tumor toxicity. We developed an immunocompetent tumor model of CAR T-cell therapy targeting murine HER2 (mHER2) and examined the effect of CAR affinity, T-cell dose, and lymphodepletion on safety and efficacy. METHODS Antibodies specific for mHER2 were generated, screened for affinity and specificity, tested for immunohistochemical staining of HER2 on normal tissues, and used for HER2-targeted CAR design. CAR candidates were evaluated for T-cell surface expression and the ability to induce T-cell proliferation, cytokine production, and cytotoxicity when transduced T cells were co-cultured with mHER2+ tumor cells in vitro. Safety and efficacy of various HER2 CARs was evaluated in two tumor models and normal non-tumor-bearing mice. RESULTS Mice express HER2 in the same epithelial tissues as humans, rendering these tissues vulnerable to recognition by systemically administered HER2 CAR T cells. CAR T cells designed with single-chain variable fragment (scFvs) that have high-affinity for HER2 infiltrated and caused toxicity to normal HER2-positive tissues but exhibited poor infiltration into tumors and antitumor activity. In contrast, CAR T cells designed with an scFv with low-affinity for HER2 infiltrated HER2-positive tumors and controlled tumor growth without toxicity. Toxicity mediated by high-affinity CAR T cells was independent of tumor burden and correlated with proliferation of CAR T cells post infusion. CONCLUSIONS Our findings illustrate the disadvantage of high-affinity CARs for targets such as HER2 that are expressed on normal tissues. The use of low-affinity HER2 CARs can safely regress tumors identifying a potential path for therapy of solid tumors that exhibit high levels of HER2.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tamer Basel Shabaneh
- Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Andrew R Stevens
- Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Sylvia M Stull
- Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Kristen R Shimp
- Translational Science and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Brandon W Seaton
- Translational Science and Therapeutics Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Ekram A Gad
- Comparative Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Carla A Jaeger-Ruckstuhl
- Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Sylvain Simon
- Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Amanda L Koehne
- Experimental Histopathology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Jason P Price
- Molecular Design and Therapeutics, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - James M Olson
- Molecular Design and Therapeutics, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | | | - David Jellyman
- Antibody Technology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Stanley R Riddell
- Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
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Wilkens AB, Fulton EC, Pont MJ, Cole GO, Leung I, Stull SM, Hart MR, Bernstein ID, Furlan SN, Riddell SR. NOTCH1 signaling during CD4+ T-cell activation alters transcription factor networks and enhances antigen responsiveness. Blood 2022; 140:2261-2275. [PMID: 35605191 PMCID: PMC9837446 DOI: 10.1182/blood.2021015144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2021] [Accepted: 05/09/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Adoptive transfer of T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CAR-T) effectively treats refractory hematologic malignancies in a subset of patients but can be limited by poor T-cell expansion and persistence in vivo. Less differentiated T-cell states correlate with the capacity of CAR-T to proliferate and mediate antitumor responses, and interventions that limit tumor-specific T-cell differentiation during ex vivo manufacturing enhance efficacy. NOTCH signaling is involved in fate decisions across diverse cell lineages and in memory CD8+ T cells was reported to upregulate the transcription factor FOXM1, attenuate differentiation, and enhance proliferation and antitumor efficacy in vivo. Here, we used a cell-free culture system to provide an agonistic NOTCH1 signal during naïve CD4+ T-cell activation and CAR-T production and studied the effects on differentiation, transcription factor expression, cytokine production, and responses to tumor. NOTCH1 agonism efficiently induced a stem cell memory phenotype in CAR-T derived from naïve but not memory CD4+ T cells and upregulated expression of AhR and c-MAF, driving heightened production of interleukin-22, interleukin-10, and granzyme B. NOTCH1-agonized CD4+ CAR-T demonstrated enhanced antigen responsiveness and proliferated to strikingly higher frequencies in mice bearing human lymphoma xenografts. NOTCH1-agonized CD4+ CAR-T also provided superior help to cotransferred CD8+ CAR-T, driving improved expansion and curative antitumor responses in vivo at low CAR-T doses. Our data expand the mechanisms by which NOTCH can shape CD4+ T-cell behavior and demonstrate that activating NOTCH1 signaling during genetic modification ex vivo is a potential strategy for enhancing the function of T cells engineered with tumor-targeting receptors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alec B. Wilkens
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
- Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
| | - Elena C. Fulton
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
| | - Margot J. Pont
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
| | - Gabriel O. Cole
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
| | - Isabel Leung
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
| | - Sylvia M. Stull
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
| | - Matthew R. Hart
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
| | - Irwin D. Bernstein
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
| | - Scott N. Furlan
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
| | - Stanley R. Riddell
- Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA
- Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
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Veatch JR, Singhi N, Srivastava S, Szeto JL, Jesernig B, Stull SM, Fitzgibbon M, Sarvothama M, Yechan-Gunja S, James SE, Riddell SR. A therapeutic cancer vaccine delivers antigens and adjuvants to lymphoid tissues using genetically modified T cells. J Clin Invest 2021; 131:e144195. [PMID: 34396986 PMCID: PMC8363286 DOI: 10.1172/jci144195] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2020] [Accepted: 07/01/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Therapeutic vaccines that augment T cell responses to tumor antigens have been limited by poor potency in clinical trials. In contrast, the transfer of T cells modified with foreign transgenes frequently induces potent endogenous T cell responses to epitopes in the transgene product, and these responses are undesirable, because they lead to rejection of the transferred T cells. We sought to harness gene-modified T cells as a vaccine platform and developed cancer vaccines composed of autologous T cells modified with tumor antigens and additional adjuvant signals (Tvax). T cells expressing model antigens and a broad range of tumor neoantigens induced robust and durable T cell responses through cross-presentation of antigens by host DCs. Providing Tvax with signals such as CD80, CD137L, IFN-β, IL-12, GM-CSF, and FLT3L enhanced T cell priming. Coexpression of IL-12 and GM-CSF induced the strongest CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses through complimentary effects on the recruitment and activation of DCs, mediated by autocrine IL-12 receptor signaling in the Tvax. Therapeutic vaccination with Tvax and adjuvants showed antitumor activity in subcutaneous and metastatic preclinical mouse models. Human T cells modified with neoantigens readily activated specific T cells derived from patients, providing a path for clinical translation of this therapeutic platform in cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua R Veatch
- Clinical Research Division and Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Seattle, Washington, USA.,Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Naina Singhi
- Clinical Research Division and Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Shivani Srivastava
- Clinical Research Division and Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Julia L Szeto
- Clinical Research Division and Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Brenda Jesernig
- Clinical Research Division and Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Sylvia M Stull
- Clinical Research Division and Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Seattle, Washington, USA
| | | | - Megha Sarvothama
- Clinical Research Division and Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Sushma Yechan-Gunja
- Clinical Research Division and Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Seattle, Washington, USA
| | - Scott E James
- Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, USA
| | - Stanley R Riddell
- Clinical Research Division and Immunotherapy Integrated Research Center, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), Seattle, Washington, USA.,Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
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