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Heitzeneder S, Bosse KR, Zhu Z, Zhelev D, Majzner RG, Radosevich MT, Dhingra S, Sotillo E, Buongervino S, Pascual-Pasto G, Garrigan E, Xu P, Huang J, Salzer B, Delaidelli A, Raman S, Cui H, Martinez B, Bornheimer SJ, Sahaf B, Alag A, Fetahu IS, Hasselblatt M, Parker KR, Anbunathan H, Hwang J, Huang M, Sakamoto K, Lacayo NJ, Klysz DD, Theruvath J, Vilches-Moure JG, Satpathy AT, Chang HY, Lehner M, Taschner-Mandl S, Julien JP, Sorensen PH, Dimitrov DS, Maris JM, Mackall CL. GPC2-CAR T cells tuned for low antigen density mediate potent activity against neuroblastoma without toxicity. Cancer Cell 2022; 40:53-69.e9. [PMID: 34971569 PMCID: PMC9092726 DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2021.12.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 53] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2021] [Revised: 10/13/2021] [Accepted: 12/06/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Pediatric cancers often mimic fetal tissues and express proteins normally silenced postnatally that could serve as immune targets. We developed T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) targeting glypican-2 (GPC2), a fetal antigen expressed on neuroblastoma (NB) and several other solid tumors. CARs engineered using standard designs control NBs with transgenic GPC2 overexpression, but not those expressing clinically relevant GPC2 site density (∼5,000 molecules/cell, range 1-6 × 103). Iterative engineering of transmembrane (TM) and co-stimulatory domains plus overexpression of c-Jun lowered the GPC2-CAR antigen density threshold, enabling potent and durable eradication of NBs expressing clinically relevant GPC2 antigen density, without toxicity. These studies highlight the critical interplay between CAR design and antigen density threshold, demonstrate potent efficacy and safety of a lead GPC2-CAR candidate suitable for clinical testing, and credential oncofetal antigens as a promising class of targets for CAR T cell therapy of solid tumors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine Heitzeneder
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Kristopher R Bosse
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Zhongyu Zhu
- National Cancer Institute, Frederick, MD 21702, USA
| | - Doncho Zhelev
- University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - Robbie G Majzner
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Molly T Radosevich
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Shaurya Dhingra
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Elena Sotillo
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Samantha Buongervino
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Guillem Pascual-Pasto
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Emily Garrigan
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Peng Xu
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Jing Huang
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Benjamin Salzer
- St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute, Vienna, Austria; Christian Doppler Laboratory for Next Generation CAR T Cells, Vienna, Austria
| | - Alberto Delaidelli
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1L3, Canada
| | - Swetha Raman
- Program in Molecular Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Hong Cui
- Program in Molecular Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | - Benjamin Martinez
- Program in Molecular Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada
| | | | - Bita Sahaf
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Anya Alag
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Irfete S Fetahu
- University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - Martin Hasselblatt
- Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany
| | - Kevin R Parker
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Hima Anbunathan
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | | | - Min Huang
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Kathleen Sakamoto
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Norman J Lacayo
- Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Dorota D Klysz
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Johanna Theruvath
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - José G Vilches-Moure
- Department of Comparative Medicine, Animal Histology Services, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Ansuman T Satpathy
- Department of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Howard Y Chang
- Center for Personal Dynamic Regulomes, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, San Francisco, CA 941209, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Manfred Lehner
- St. Anna Children's Cancer Research Institute, Vienna, Austria; Christian Doppler Laboratory for Next Generation CAR T Cells, Vienna, Austria
| | | | - Jean-Phillipe Julien
- Program in Molecular Medicine, Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute, Toronto, ON M5G 0A4, Canada; Departments of Biochemistry and Immunology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 1A8, Canada
| | - Poul H Sorensen
- Department of Molecular Oncology, British Columbia Cancer Research Centre, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1L3, Canada
| | - Dimiter S Dimitrov
- University of Pittsburgh Department of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - John M Maris
- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
| | - Crystal L Mackall
- Center for Cancer Cell Therapy, Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Lorry Lokey Building, Suite G3141, MC: 5456, 265 Campus Drive, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA; Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, San Francisco, CA 941209, USA; Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
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Cheuk A, Shivaprasad N, Schneider D, Yohe M, Tan M, Azorsa P, Sams R, Pomella S, Gryder B, Rota R, Stanton B, Wei J, Song Y, Wen X, Sindiri S, Kumar J, Hawley R, Chung JY, Zhelev D, Zhu Z, Dimitrov D, Hewitt S, Dropulic B, Orentas R, Khan J. Abstract A08: Development of FGFR4-specific chimeric antibody receptor (CAR) T cell and bispecific T cell engager (BiTE) for rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) immunotherapy. Cancer Res 2020. [DOI: 10.1158/1538-7445.pedca19-a08] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Background: Despite decades of multimodule therapies, RMS remains incurable once it has metastasized; thus, new therapeutic strategies are warranted. FGFR4 is a developmentally regulated cell surface receptor tyrosine kinase, overexpressed in virtually all, mutationally activated in about 7.5% of RMS, and directly activated by PAX3-FOXO1 fusion protein, which makes it a tractable target for immunotherapy.
Material and Methods: Using monoclonal antibody technologies and a yeast display B-cell library, we generated 15 human or mouse binders specific to human FGFR4 and engineered into human scFvFc. All binders were successfully produced in vitro, and we further characterized them using FACS and ELISA for their specificity. Octet was used to measure the binding affinity against human FGFR4. For those lead hits, they were made into different formats of therapeutic including CAR and BiTE. We then performed in vitro killing assays and/or in vivo xenograft model to determine the efficacy of those therapeutics in killing RMS cells.
Results: m410 and m412 were two lead hits and scFvFcs of these two binders were successfully produced in vitro and showed FGFR4 specificity with a binding affinity at nanomolar concentration. By ELISA, these binders showed dose-dependent binding to FGFR4 protein but not to other FGFR family members. We then made m410 and m412 into CAR and BiTE format, respectively. T cells transduced with m410 CAR construct were found highly potent in inducing gamma interferon, TNF alpha, and cytotoxicity when the FGFR4-CART are cocultured with RMS cells. Our in vivo testing found them to be effective in eliminating RMS cells in murine xenograft models. When T cells were cocultured with RMS cells in the presence of m412 BiTE in vitro, potent selective antitumor effect was observed, suggesting this can be another promising strategy for RMS immunotherapy.
Conclusions: Here our data demonstrated that we had successfully generated binders specific to human FGFR4. The CAR and BiTE developed from these binders were able to kill FGFR4-positive target cells. Our data suggest that these FGFR4 CARs and FGFR4 BiTEs could provide effective immune therapies for rhabdomyosarcoma and other FGFR4-expressing cancers.
Citation Format: Adam Cheuk, Nityashree Shivaprasad, Dina Schneider, Marielle Yohe, Meijie Tan, Peter Azorsa, Ronald Sams, Silvia Pomella, Berkley Gryder, Rossella Rota, Ben Stanton, Jun Wei, Young Song, Xinyu Wen, Sivasish Sindiri, Jeetendra Kumar, Robert Hawley, Joon-Yong Chung, Doncho Zhelev, Zhongyu Zhu, Dimiter Dimitrov, Stephen Hewitt, Boro Dropulic, Rimas Orentas, Javed Khan. Development of FGFR4-specific chimeric antibody receptor (CAR) T cell and bispecific T cell engager (BiTE) for rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) immunotherapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Advances in Pediatric Cancer Research; 2019 Sep 17-20; Montreal, QC, Canada. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(14 Suppl):Abstract nr A08.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Cheuk
- 1National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD,
| | | | | | | | - Meijie Tan
- 1National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD,
| | | | | | - Silvia Pomella
- 3Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesu’ Research Institute, Rome, Italy,
| | | | - Rossella Rota
- 3Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesu’ Research Institute, Rome, Italy,
| | | | - Jun Wei
- 1National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD,
| | - Young Song
- 1National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD,
| | - Xinyu Wen
- 1National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD,
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Zhongyu Zhu
- 2Lentigen Technology, Inc., Gaithersburg, MD,
| | | | | | | | | | - Javed Khan
- 1National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD,
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