A new approach to CAR T-cell gene engineering and cultivation using piggyBac transposon in the presence of IL-4, IL-7 and IL-21.
Cytotherapy 2018;
20:507-520. [PMID:
29475789 DOI:
10.1016/j.jcyt.2017.10.001]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2017] [Revised: 09/20/2017] [Accepted: 10/06/2017] [Indexed: 10/25/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AIMS
Clinical-grade chimeric antigenic receptor (CAR)19 T cells are routinely manufactured by lentiviral/retroviral (LV/RV) transduction of an anti-CD3/CD28 activated T cells, which are then propagated in a culture medium supplemented with interleukin (IL)-2. The use of LV/RVs for T-cell modification represents a manufacturing challenge due to the complexity of the transduction approach and the necessity of thorough quality control.
METHODS
We present here a significantly improved protocol for CAR19 T-cell manufacture that is based on the electroporation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with plasmid DNA encoding the piggyBac transposon/transposase vectors and their cultivation in the presence of cytokines IL-4, IL-7 and IL-21.
RESULTS
We found that activation of the CAR receptor by either its cognate ligand (i.e., CD19 expressed on the surface of B cells) or anti-CAR antibody, followed by cultivation in the presence of cytokines IL-4 and IL-7, enables strong and highly selective expansion of functional CAR19 T cells, resulting in >90% CAR+ T cells. Addition of cytokine IL-21 to the mixture of IL-4 and IL-7 supported development of immature CAR19 T cells with central memory and stem cell memory phenotypes and expressing very low amounts of inhibitory receptors PD-1, LAG-3 and TIM-3.
CONCLUSIONS
Our protocol provides a simple and cost-effective method for engineering high-quality T cells for adoptive therapies.
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