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A Novel Siglec-4 Derived Spacer Improves the Functionality of CAR T Cells Against Membrane-Proximal Epitopes

A domain that is often neglected in the assessment of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) functionality is the extracellular spacer module. However, several studies have elucidated that membrane proximal epitopes are best targeted through CARs comprising long spacers, while short spacer CARs exhibit hig...

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Autores principales: Schäfer, Daniel, Henze, Janina, Pfeifer, Rita, Schleicher, Anna, Brauner, Janina, Mockel-Tenbrinck, Nadine, Barth, Carola, Gudert, Daniela, Al Rawashdeh, Wa'el, Johnston, Ian C. D., Hardt, Olaf
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7426717/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32849600
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.01704
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author Schäfer, Daniel
Henze, Janina
Pfeifer, Rita
Schleicher, Anna
Brauner, Janina
Mockel-Tenbrinck, Nadine
Barth, Carola
Gudert, Daniela
Al Rawashdeh, Wa'el
Johnston, Ian C. D.
Hardt, Olaf
author_facet Schäfer, Daniel
Henze, Janina
Pfeifer, Rita
Schleicher, Anna
Brauner, Janina
Mockel-Tenbrinck, Nadine
Barth, Carola
Gudert, Daniela
Al Rawashdeh, Wa'el
Johnston, Ian C. D.
Hardt, Olaf
author_sort Schäfer, Daniel
collection PubMed
description A domain that is often neglected in the assessment of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) functionality is the extracellular spacer module. However, several studies have elucidated that membrane proximal epitopes are best targeted through CARs comprising long spacers, while short spacer CARs exhibit highest activity on distal epitopes. This finding can be explained by the requirement to have an optimal distance between the effector T cell and target cell. Commonly used long spacer domains are the CH2-CH3 domains of IgG molecules. However, CARs containing these spacers generally show inferior in vivo efficacy in mouse models compared to their observed in vitro activity, which is linked to unspecific Fcγ-Receptor binding and can be abolished by mutating the respective regions. Here, we first assessed a CAR therapy targeting membrane proximal CD20 using such a modified long IgG1 spacer. However, despite these mutations, this construct failed to unfold its observed in vitro cytotoxic potential in an in vivo model, while a shorter but less structured CD8α spacer CAR showed complete tumor clearance. Given the shortage of well-described long spacer domains with a favorable functionality profile, we designed a novel class of CAR spacers with similar attributes to IgG spacers but without unspecific off-target binding, derived from the Sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-type lectins (Siglecs). Of five constructs tested, a Siglec-4 derived spacer showed highest cytotoxic potential and similar performance to a CD8α spacer in a CD20 specific CAR setting. In a pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma model, a Siglec-4 spacer CAR targeting a membrane proximal (TSPAN8) epitope was efficiently engaged in vitro, while a membrane distal (CD66c) epitope did not activate the T cell. Transfer of the TSPAN8 specific Siglec-4 spacer CAR to an in vivo setting maintained the excellent tumor killing characteristics being indistinguishable from a TSPAN8 CD8α spacer CAR while outperforming an IgG4 long spacer CAR and, at the same time, showing an advantageous central memory CAR T cell phenotype with lower release of inflammatory cytokines. In summary, we developed a novel spacer that combines cytotoxic potential with an advantageous T cell and cytokine release phenotype, which make this an interesting candidate for future clinical applications.
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spelling pubmed-74267172020-08-25 A Novel Siglec-4 Derived Spacer Improves the Functionality of CAR T Cells Against Membrane-Proximal Epitopes Schäfer, Daniel Henze, Janina Pfeifer, Rita Schleicher, Anna Brauner, Janina Mockel-Tenbrinck, Nadine Barth, Carola Gudert, Daniela Al Rawashdeh, Wa'el Johnston, Ian C. D. Hardt, Olaf Front Immunol Immunology A domain that is often neglected in the assessment of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) functionality is the extracellular spacer module. However, several studies have elucidated that membrane proximal epitopes are best targeted through CARs comprising long spacers, while short spacer CARs exhibit highest activity on distal epitopes. This finding can be explained by the requirement to have an optimal distance between the effector T cell and target cell. Commonly used long spacer domains are the CH2-CH3 domains of IgG molecules. However, CARs containing these spacers generally show inferior in vivo efficacy in mouse models compared to their observed in vitro activity, which is linked to unspecific Fcγ-Receptor binding and can be abolished by mutating the respective regions. Here, we first assessed a CAR therapy targeting membrane proximal CD20 using such a modified long IgG1 spacer. However, despite these mutations, this construct failed to unfold its observed in vitro cytotoxic potential in an in vivo model, while a shorter but less structured CD8α spacer CAR showed complete tumor clearance. Given the shortage of well-described long spacer domains with a favorable functionality profile, we designed a novel class of CAR spacers with similar attributes to IgG spacers but without unspecific off-target binding, derived from the Sialic acid-binding immunoglobulin-type lectins (Siglecs). Of five constructs tested, a Siglec-4 derived spacer showed highest cytotoxic potential and similar performance to a CD8α spacer in a CD20 specific CAR setting. In a pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma model, a Siglec-4 spacer CAR targeting a membrane proximal (TSPAN8) epitope was efficiently engaged in vitro, while a membrane distal (CD66c) epitope did not activate the T cell. Transfer of the TSPAN8 specific Siglec-4 spacer CAR to an in vivo setting maintained the excellent tumor killing characteristics being indistinguishable from a TSPAN8 CD8α spacer CAR while outperforming an IgG4 long spacer CAR and, at the same time, showing an advantageous central memory CAR T cell phenotype with lower release of inflammatory cytokines. In summary, we developed a novel spacer that combines cytotoxic potential with an advantageous T cell and cytokine release phenotype, which make this an interesting candidate for future clinical applications. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-08-07 /pmc/articles/PMC7426717/ /pubmed/32849600 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.01704 Text en Copyright © 2020 Schäfer, Henze, Pfeifer, Schleicher, Brauner, Mockel-Tenbrinck, Barth, Gudert, Al Rawashdeh, Johnston and Hardt. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Immunology
Schäfer, Daniel
Henze, Janina
Pfeifer, Rita
Schleicher, Anna
Brauner, Janina
Mockel-Tenbrinck, Nadine
Barth, Carola
Gudert, Daniela
Al Rawashdeh, Wa'el
Johnston, Ian C. D.
Hardt, Olaf
A Novel Siglec-4 Derived Spacer Improves the Functionality of CAR T Cells Against Membrane-Proximal Epitopes
title A Novel Siglec-4 Derived Spacer Improves the Functionality of CAR T Cells Against Membrane-Proximal Epitopes
title_full A Novel Siglec-4 Derived Spacer Improves the Functionality of CAR T Cells Against Membrane-Proximal Epitopes
title_fullStr A Novel Siglec-4 Derived Spacer Improves the Functionality of CAR T Cells Against Membrane-Proximal Epitopes
title_full_unstemmed A Novel Siglec-4 Derived Spacer Improves the Functionality of CAR T Cells Against Membrane-Proximal Epitopes
title_short A Novel Siglec-4 Derived Spacer Improves the Functionality of CAR T Cells Against Membrane-Proximal Epitopes
title_sort novel siglec-4 derived spacer improves the functionality of car t cells against membrane-proximal epitopes
topic Immunology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7426717/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32849600
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.01704
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