Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510530, China.
University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
J Hematol Oncol. 2022 May 21;15(1):68. doi: 10.1186/s13045-022-01288-2.
Although chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified adoptive T cell therapy is a promising immunotherapy for hematological malignancies, the efficacy improvement in relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with extramedullary infiltration and in multiple myeloma (MM) is still warranted. Since C3aR activation can promote the expansion of tumor-killing Th17 cells, we hypothesized that incorporating C3aR as a costimulatory domain would augment the antitumor activity of CAR-T. In this study, we introduced the C3aR domain into a CAR and generated BB-ζ-C3aR CAR-T targeting CD19 or BCMA. These new CAR-T exhibited a potent cytolytic ability to eradicate tumor cells expressing CD19 or BCMA in vitro. When administered intravenously to ALL or MM xenograft mouse models, BB-ζ-C3aR CAR-T reduced the tumor burden and improved the survival rate. Of note, these CAR-T could effectively eradicate subcutaneous CD19 tumor cells, highlighting the therapeutic potential in extramedullary leukemia. Mechanistically, BB-ζ-C3aR CAR-T tended to exhibit a Th17 phenotype favoring tumor killing and suppressed Tregs. In addition, the induction of memory T cell in the BB-ζ-C3aR CAR-T cells indicated their long-term effects. Together, our findings suggest that the application of C3aR costimulation boosts the ability of CAR-T to eradicate aggressive tumor cells via Th17 expansion and memory T cell induction.
尽管嵌合抗原受体(CAR)修饰的过继性 T 细胞疗法是血液恶性肿瘤有前途的免疫疗法,但仍需要提高对有髓外浸润的复发/难治性急性淋巴细胞白血病(ALL)和多发性骨髓瘤(MM)的疗效。由于 C3aR 的激活可以促进杀伤肿瘤 Th17 细胞的扩增,我们假设将 C3aR 作为共刺激结构域将增强 CAR-T 的抗肿瘤活性。在这项研究中,我们将 C3aR 结构域引入到靶向 CD19 或 BCMA 的 CAR 中,生成了 BB-ζ-C3aR CAR-T。这些新的 CAR-T 在体外对表达 CD19 或 BCMA 的肿瘤细胞具有强大的细胞溶解能力。当静脉注射到 ALL 或 MM 异种移植小鼠模型中时,BB-ζ-C3aR CAR-T 可减轻肿瘤负担并提高生存率。值得注意的是,这些 CAR-T 可以有效地消除皮下 CD19 肿瘤细胞,突出了髓外白血病的治疗潜力。从机制上讲,BB-ζ-C3aR CAR-T 倾向于表现出有利于肿瘤杀伤的 Th17 表型,并抑制 Tregs。此外,BB-ζ-C3aR CAR-T 细胞中记忆 T 细胞的诱导表明了它们的长期效应。总之,我们的研究结果表明,C3aR 共刺激的应用通过 Th17 扩增和记忆 T 细胞诱导增强了 CAR-T 消灭侵袭性肿瘤细胞的能力。