Anti-GD2 CAR MSCs against metastatic Ewing's sarcoma

BACKGROUND: Ewing's sarcoma (ES) is an aggressive cancer affecting children and young adults. We pre-clinically demonstrated that mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) can deliver tumour necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) against primary ES after local injection. However, ES is often metastatic calling for approaches able to support MSC targeting to the ES multiple remote sites. Considering that the disialoganglioside GD2 is expressed by ES and to optimise MSC tumour affinity, bi-functional (BF) MSCs expressing both TRAIL and a truncated anti-GD2 chimeric antigen receptor (GD2 tCAR) were generated and challenged against ES. METHODS: The anti-GD2 BF MSCs delivering a soluble variant of TRAIL (sTRAIL) were tested in several in vitro ES models. Tumour targeting and killing by BF MSCs was further investigated by a novel immunodeficient ES metastatic model characterized by different metastatic sites, including lungs, liver and bone, mimicking the deadly clinical scenario. FINDINGS: In vitro data revealed both tumour affinity and killing of BF MSCs. In vivo, GD2 tCAR molecule ameliorated the tumour targeting and persistence of BF MSCs counteracting ES in lungs but not in liver. INTERPRETATION: We here generated data on the potential effects of BF MSCs within a complex ES metastatic in vivo model, exploring also the biodistribution of MSCs. Our BF MSC-based strategy promises to pave the way for potential improvements in the therapeutic delivery of TRAIL for the treatment of metastatic ES and other deadly GD2-positive malignancies.