Bodden Malena, Häcker Aline, Röder Jasmin, Kiefer Anne, Zhang Congcong, Bhatti Anita, Pfeifer Serrahima Jordi, Ullrich Evelyn, Kühnel Ines, Wels Winfried S
Georg-Speyer-Haus, Institute for Tumor Biology and Experimental Therapy, 60596 Frankfurt, Germany.
Frankfurt Cancer Institute, Goethe University, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany.
Cancers (Basel). 2023 Aug 29;15(17):4310. doi: 10.3390/cancers15174310.
In contrast to T lymphocytes, natural killer (NK) cells do not require prior sensitization but are rapidly activated upon encountering virally infected or neoplastic cells. In addition, NK cells can be safely applied in an allogeneic setting, making them important effector cells for the development of off-the-shelf therapeutics for adoptive cancer immunotherapy. To further enhance their therapeutic potential, here, we engineered continuously expanding NK-92 cells as a clinically relevant model to express a humanized second-generation chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) with a composite CD28-CD3ζ signaling domain (hu14.18.28.z) that targets the disialoganglioside GD, which is expressed at high levels by neuroblastoma cells and other tumors of neuroectodermal origin. In a separate approach, we fused an IL-15 superagonist (RD-IL15) to the GD-CAR via a P2A processing site. Lentivirally transduced NK-92/hu14.18.28.z and NK-92/hu14.18.28.z_RD-IL15 cells both displayed high and stable CAR surface expression and specific cytotoxicity toward GD-positive tumor cells. GD-CAR NK cells carrying the RD-IL15 construct in addition expressed the IL-15 superagonist, resulting in self-enrichment and targeted cell killing in the absence of exogenous IL-2. Furthermore, co-culture with RD-IL15-secreting GD-CAR NK cells markedly enhanced proliferation and cytotoxicity of bystander immune cells in a paracrine manner. Our results demonstrate that GD-CAR NK cells co-expressing the IL-15 superagonist mediate potent direct and indirect antitumor effects, suggesting this strategy as a promising approach for the further development of functionally enhanced cellular therapeutics.
与T淋巴细胞不同,自然杀伤(NK)细胞不需要预先致敏,而是在遇到病毒感染或肿瘤细胞时迅速被激活。此外,NK细胞可以安全地应用于同种异体环境,使其成为开发现成的过继性癌症免疫治疗疗法的重要效应细胞。为了进一步提高其治疗潜力,我们在此设计了持续扩增的NK-92细胞作为临床相关模型,以表达一种具有复合CD28-CD3ζ信号域(hu14.18.28.z)的人源化第二代嵌合抗原受体(CAR),该受体靶向双唾液酸神经节苷脂GD,神经母细胞瘤细胞和其他神经外胚层来源的肿瘤高水平表达该物质。在另一种方法中,我们通过P2A加工位点将IL-15超激动剂(RD-IL15)与GD-CAR融合。慢病毒转导的NK-92/hu14.18.28.z和NK-92/hu14.18.28.z_RD-IL15细胞均显示出高且稳定的CAR表面表达以及对GD阳性肿瘤细胞的特异性细胞毒性。携带RD-IL15构建体的GD-CAR NK细胞还表达IL-15超激动剂,从而在没有外源性IL-2的情况下实现自我富集和靶向细胞杀伤。此外,与分泌RD-IL15的GD-CAR NK细胞共培养以旁分泌方式显著增强了旁观者免疫细胞的增殖和细胞毒性。我们的结果表明,共表达IL-15超激动剂的GD-CAR NK细胞介导了强大的直接和间接抗肿瘤作用,表明该策略是进一步开发功能增强的细胞疗法的有前景的方法。
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