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Hernandez-Lopez RA, Yu W, Cabral KA, Creasey OA, Lopez Pazmino MDP, Tonai Y, De Guzman A, Mäkelä A, Saksela K, Gartner ZJ, Lim WA. T cell circuits that sense antigen density with an ultrasensitive threshold. Science 2021; 371:1166-1171. [PMID: 33632893 DOI: 10.1126/science.abc1855] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 27.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2020] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Overexpressed tumor-associated antigens [for example, epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)] are attractive targets for therapeutic T cells, but toxic "off-tumor" cross-reaction with normal tissues that express low levels of target antigen can occur with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells. Inspired by natural ultrasensitive response circuits, we engineered a two-step positive-feedback circuit that allows human cytotoxic T cells to discriminate targets on the basis of a sigmoidal antigen-density threshold. In this circuit, a low-affinity synthetic Notch receptor for HER2 controls the expression of a high-affinity CAR for HER2. Increasing HER2 density thus has cooperative effects on T cells-it increases both CAR expression and activation-leading to a sigmoidal response. T cells with this circuit show sharp discrimination between target cells expressing normal amounts of HER2 and cancer cells expressing 100 times as much HER2, both in vitro and in vivo.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rogelio A Hernandez-Lopez
- Cell Design Institute, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.,Center for Cellular Construction, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Wei Yu
- Cell Design Institute, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Katelyn A Cabral
- Center for Cellular Construction, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.,Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Chan Zuckerberg BioHub, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.,Graduate Program in Bioengineering, University of California Berkeley and University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Olivia A Creasey
- Center for Cellular Construction, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.,Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Chan Zuckerberg BioHub, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.,Graduate Program in Bioengineering, University of California Berkeley and University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Maria Del Pilar Lopez Pazmino
- Cell Design Institute, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.,Center for Cellular Construction, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Yurie Tonai
- Cell Design Institute, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Arsenia De Guzman
- Cell Design Institute, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Anna Mäkelä
- Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Kalle Saksela
- Department of Virology, Haartman Institute, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Zev J Gartner
- Center for Cellular Construction, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA.,Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Chan Zuckerberg BioHub, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Wendell A Lim
- Cell Design Institute, Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA. .,Center for Cellular Construction, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
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