Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Durable Immunity To Ebv After Rituximab And Third-Party Lmp-Specific T Cells: A Children's Oncology Group Study, Birte Wistinghausen, Robert J Hayashi, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) in pediatric solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients is characterized by uncontrolled proliferation of Epstein-Barr virus-infected (EBV+) B cells due to decreased immune function. This study evaluated the feasibility, safety, clinical and immunobiological outcomes in pediatric SOT recipients with PTLD treated with rituximab and third-party latent membrane protein-specific T cells (LMP-TCs). Newly diagnosed (ND) patients without complete response to rituximab and all patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) disease received LMP-TCs. Suitable LMP-TC products were available for all eligible subjects. Thirteen of 15 patients who received LMP-TCs were treated within the prescribed 14-day time frame. LMP-TC therapy was generally …

Investigation Into Cardiac Myhc-Α 334-352-Specific Tcr Transgenic Mice Reveals A Role For Cytotoxic Cd4 T Cells In The Development Of Cardiac Autoimmunity, Meghna Sur, Mahima T. Rasquinha, Kiruthiga Mone, Chandirasegaran Massilamany, Ninaad Lasrado, Channabasavaiah B. Gurumurthy, Raymond A Sobel, Jay Reddy

Journal Articles: Genetics, Cell Biology & Anatomy

Myocarditis is one of the major causes of heart failure in children and young adults and can lead to dilated cardiomyopathy. Lymphocytic myocarditis could result from autoreactive CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells, but defining antigen specificity in disease pathogenesis is challenging. To address this issue, we generated T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic (Tg) C57BL/6J mice specific to cardiac myosin heavy chain (Myhc)-α 334-352 and found that Myhc-α-specific TCRs were expressed in both CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cells. To investigate if the phenotype is more pronounced in a myocarditis-susceptible genetic background, we backcrossed with A/J mice. At …

Intratumoral T-Cell Receptor Repertoire Composition Predicts Overall Survival In Patients With Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Vikram S Pothuri, Graham D Hogg, Leah Conant, Nicholas Borcherding, C Alston James, Jacqueline Mudd, Greg Williams, Yongwoo David Seo, William G Hawkins, Venu G Pillarisetty, David G Denardo, Ryan C Fields

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal malignancy that is refractory to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. However, intratumoral T-cell infiltration correlates with improved overall survival (OS). Herein, we characterized the diversity and antigen specificity of the PDAC T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire to identify novel immune-relevant biomarkers. Demographic, clinical, and TCR-beta sequencing data were collated from 353 patients across three cohorts that underwent surgical resection for PDAC. TCR diversity was calculated using Shannon Wiener index, Inverse Simpson index, and "True entropy." Patients were clustered by shared repertoire specificity. TCRs predictive of OS were identified and their associated transcriptional states were characterized …

Extended-Synaptotagmin-1 And -2 Control T Cell Signaling And Function, Nathalia Benavides, Claudio G. Giraudo

Department of Microbiology and Immunology Faculty Papers

Upon T-cell activation, the levels of the secondary messenger diacylglycerol (DAG) at the plasma membrane need to be controlled to ensure appropriate T-cell receptor signaling and T-cell functions. Extended-Synaptotagmins (E-Syts) are a family of inter-organelle lipid transport proteins that bridge the endoplasmic reticulum and the plasma membrane. In this study, we identify a novel regulatory mechanism of DAG-mediated signaling for T-cell effector functions based on E-Syt proteins. We demonstrate that E-Syts downmodulate T-cell receptor signaling, T-cell-mediated cytotoxicity, degranulation, and cytokine production by reducing plasma membrane levels of DAG. Mechanistically, E-Syt2 predominantly modulates DAG levels at the plasma membrane in resting-state …

Idasanutlin And Navitoclax Induce Synergistic Apoptotic Cell Death In T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Kimberly B Johansson, Megan S Zimmerman, Iryna V Dmytrenko, Feng Gao, Daniel C Link

2020-Current year OA Pubs

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive hematologic malignancy in which activating mutations in the Notch pathway are thought to contribute to transformation, in part, by activating c-Myc. Increased c-Myc expression induces oncogenic stress that can trigger apoptosis through the MDM2-p53 tumor suppressor pathway. Since the great majority of T-ALL cases carry inactivating mutations upstream in this pathway but maintain wildtype MDM2 and TP53, we hypothesized that T-ALL would be selectively sensitive to MDM2 inhibition. Treatment with idasanutlin, an MDM2 inhibitor, induced only modest apoptosis in T-ALL cells but upregulated the pro-apoptotic BH3 domain genes BAX and BBC3, prompting …

An "Off-The-Shelf" Cd2 Universal Car-T Therapy For T-Cell Malignancies, Jingyu Xiang, Jessica M Devenport, Alun J Carter, Karl W Staser, Miriam Y Kim, Julie O' Neal, Julie K Ritchey, Michael P Rettig, Feng Gao, Garrett Rettig, Rolf Turk, Byung Ha Lee, Matthew L Cooper, John F Dipersio

2020-Current year OA Pubs

T-cell malignancies are associated with frequent relapse and high morbidity, which is partly due to the lack of effective or targeted treatment options. To broaden the use of CAR-T cells in pan T-cell malignancies, we developed an allogeneic "universal" CD2-targeting CAR-T cell (UCART2), in which the CD2 antigen is deleted to prevent fratricide, and the T-cell receptor is removed to prevent GvHD. UCART2 demonstrated efficacy against T-ALL and CTCL and prolonged the survival of tumor-engrafted NSG mice in vivo. To evaluate the impact of CD2 on CAR-T function, we generated CD19 CAR-T cells (UCART19) with or without CD2 deletion, single-cell …

Myeloid Lineage Switch Following Cd7-Targeted Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Therapy In Relapsed/Refractory T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Ibrahim Aldoss, David Spencer, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

No abstract provided.

Single-Cell Analysis Reveals Diversity Of Tumor-Associated Macrophages And Their Interactions With T Lymphocytes In Glioblastoma., Sai Batchu, Khalid A Hanafy, Navid Redjal, Saniya S Godil, Ajith J Thomas

Cooper Medical School of Rowan University Faculty Scholarship

Glioblastoma (GBM) is an aggressive primary CNS malignancy and clinical outcomes have remained stagnant despite introduction of new treatments. Understanding the tumor microenvironment (TME) in which tumor associated macrophages (TAMs) interact with T cells has been of great interest. Although previous studies examining TAMs in GBM have shown that certain TAMs are associated with specific clinical and/or pathologic features, these studies used an outdated M1/M2 paradigm of macrophage polarization and failed to include the continuum of TAM states in GBM. Perhaps most significantly, the interactions of TAMs with T cells have yet to be fully explored. Our study uses single-cell …

T Cell Control Of Inflammaging, Irina Shchukina, Pavla Bohacova, Maxim N Artyomov

2020-Current year OA Pubs

T cells are a critical component of the immune system, found in abundance in blood, secondary lymphoid organs, and peripheral tissues. As individuals age, T cells are particularly susceptible to changes, making them one of the most affected immune subsets. These changes can have significant implications for age-related dysregulations, including the development of low-grade inflammation - a hallmark of aging known as inflammaging. In this review, we first present age-related changes in the functionality of the T cell compartment, including dysregulation of cytokine and chemokine production and cytotoxicity. Next, we discuss how these changes can contribute to the development and …

Impacting T-Cell Fitness In Multiple Myeloma: Potential Roles For Selinexor And Xpo1 Inhibitors, Adam Binder, Christopher Walker, Tomer Mark, Muhamed Baljevic

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Competent T-cells with sufficient levels of fitness combat cancer formation and progression. In multiple myeloma (MM), T-cell exhaustion is caused by several factors including tumor burden, constant immune activation due to chronic disease, age, nutritional status, and certain MM treatments such as alkylating agents and proteasome inhibitors. Many currently used therapies, including bispecific T-cell engagers, anti-CD38 antibodies, proteasome inhibitors, and CART-cells, directly or indirectly depend on the anti-cancer activity of T-cells. Reduced T-cell fitness not only diminishes immune defenses, increasing patient susceptibility to opportunistic infections, but can impact effectiveness MM therapy effectiveness, bringing into focus sequencing strategies that could modulate …

Prostate Cancer Immunotherapy: Improving Clinical Outcomes With A Multi-Pronged Approach, Dhivya Sridaran, Elliot Bradshaw, Carl Deselm, Russell Pachynski, Kiran Mahajan, Nupam P Mahajan

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Cancer immunotherapy has gained traction in recent years owing to remarkable tumor clearance in some patients. Despite the notable success of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) in multiple malignancies, engagement of the immune system for targeted prostate cancer (PCa) therapy is still in its infancy. Multiple factors contribute to limited response, including the heterogeneity of PCa, the cold tumor microenvironment, and a low number of neoantigens. Significant effort is being invested in improving immune-based PCa therapies. This review is a summary of the status of immunotherapy in treating PCa, with a discussion of multiple immune modalities, including vaccines, adoptively transferred T …

Intrinsic Tumor Resistance To Car T Cells Is A Dynamic Transcriptional State That Is Exploitable With Low-Dose Radiation, Alexander B Kim, Ssu-Yu Chou, Solomon Kang, Eric Kwon, Matthew Inkman, Jeff Szymanski, Neal Andruska, Cian Colgan, Jin Zhang, Joanna C Yang, Nathan Singh, Carl J Deselm

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy represents a major advancement for hematologic malignancies, with some patients achieving long-term remission. However, the majority of treated patients still die of their disease. A consistent predictor of response is tumor quantity, wherein a higher disease burden before CAR T-cell therapy portends a worse prognosis. Focal radiation to bulky sites of the disease can decrease tumor quantity before CAR T-cell therapy, but whether this strategy improves survival is unknown. We find that substantially reducing systemic tumor quantity using high-dose radiation to areas of bulky disease, which is commonly done clinically, is less impactful on …

Influenza Vaccine Format Mediates Distinct Cellular And Antibody Responses In Human Immune Organoids, Jenna M Kastenschmidt, Elizabeth Levendosky, Naresha Saligrama, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Highly effective vaccines elicit specific, robust, and durable adaptive immune responses. To advance informed vaccine design, it is critical that we understand the cellular dynamics underlying responses to different antigen formats. Here, we sought to understand how antigen-specific B and T cells were activated and participated in adaptive immune responses within the mucosal site. Using a human tonsil organoid model, we tracked the differentiation and kinetics of the adaptive immune response to influenza vaccine and virus modalities. Each antigen format elicited distinct B and T cell responses, including differences in their magnitude, diversity, phenotype, function, and breadth. These differences culminated …

Hgf/C-Met Pathway Inhibition Combined With Chemotherapy Increases Cytotoxic T-Cell Infiltration And Inhibits Pancreatic Tumour Growth And Metastasis, Alpha Raj Mekapogu, Zhihong Xu, Srinivasa Pothula, Chamini Perera, Tony Pang, S M Zahid Hosen, Vishnu Damalanka, James Janetka, David Goldstein, Romano Pirola, Jeremy Wilson, Minoti Apte

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Pancreatic cancer (PC) is a deadly cancer with a high mortality rate. The unique characteristics of PC, including desmoplasia and immunosuppression, have made it difficult to develop effective treatment strategies. Pancreatic stellate cells (PSCs) play a crucial role in the progression of the disease by interacting with cancer cells. One of the key mediators of PSC - cancer cell interactions is the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/c-MET pathway. Using an immunocompetent in vivo model of PC as well as in vitro experiments, this study has shown that a combined approach using HGF/c-MET inhibitors to target stromal-tumour interactions and chemotherapy (gemcitabine) to …

Preclinical Evaluation Of Anti-Cd38 Therapy In Mature T-Cell Neoplasms, Colleen Isabelle, William Johnson, Kathleen Mcconnell, Ashley Vogel, Jonathan Brammer, Amy Boles, Robyn Keller, Paola Sindaco, Liam Nisenfeld, Guldeep Uppal, Neda Nikbakht, Bruno Calabretta, Patrizia Porazzi, Jerald Gong, Nitin Chakravarti, Pierluigi Porcu, Anjali Mishra

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Tarlatamab, A First-In-Class Dll3-Targeted Bispecific T-Cell Engager, In Recurrent Small-Cell Lung Cancer: An Open-Label, Phase I Study, Luis Paz-Ares, Ramaswamy Govindan, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: Small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) is an aggressive malignancy with limited treatments. Delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3) is aberrantly expressed in most SCLC. Tarlatamab (AMG 757), a bispecific T-cell engager molecule, binds both DLL3 and CD3 leading to T-cellb-mediated tumor lysis. Herein, we report phase I results of tarlatamab in patients with SCLC.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study evaluated tarlatamab in patients with relapsed/refractory SCLC. The primary end point was safety. Secondary end points included antitumor activity by modified RECIST 1.1, overall survival, and pharmacokinetics.

RESULTS: By July 19, 2022, 107 patients received tarlatamab in dose exploration (0.003 to 100 mg; …

Dual Targeting Of Cd19 And Cd22 With Bicistronic Car-T Cells In Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Large B-Cell Lymphoma, Claire Roddie, Nancy Bartlett, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Relapse after CD19-directed chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy for large B-cell lymphoma (LBCL) is commonly ascribed to antigen loss or CAR-T exhaustion. Multiantigen targeting and programmed cell death protein-1 blockade are rational approaches to prevent relapse. Here, we test CD19/22 dual-targeting CAR-T (AUTO3) plus pembrolizumab in relapsed/refractory LBCL (NCT03289455). End points include toxicity (primary) and response rates (secondary). Fifty-two patients received AUTO3 and 48/52 received pembrolizumab. Median age was 59 years (range, 27-83), 46/52 had stage III/ IV disease and median follow-up was 21.6 months. AUTO3 was safe; grade 1-2 and grade 3 cytokine release syndrome affected 18/52 (34.6%) …

Inducing T Cell Dysfunction By Chronic Stimulation Of Car-Engineered T Cells Targeting Cancer Cells In Suspension Cultures, Mehmet Emrah Selli, Jack H Landmann, Corvin Arveseth, Nathan Singh

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Several pre-clinical models reveal that chronic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) stimulation drives a dysfunctional state that mimics in vivo failure. In this protocol, we describe steps to induce T cell dysfunction by persistent and long-term stimulation of CAR-engineered T cells using antigen-expressing cancer cells in suspension cultures. We first described a validated method for manufacturing of CAR T cells, followed by a detailed method for chronic stimulation of CAR T cells and a strategy to evaluate these cells during the process of chronic stimulation. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Singh et …

Higher Doses Of Tisagenlecleucel Are Associated With Improved Outcomes: A Report From The Pediatric Real-World Car Consortium., Heather E. Stefanski, Anne Eaton, Christina Baggott, Jenna Rossoff, Michael R. Verneris, Snehit Prabhu, Holly L. Pacenta, Christine L. Phillips, Julie-An Talano, Amy Moskop, Steven P. Margossian, Douglas Myers, Nicole A. Karras, Patrick A. Brown, Muna Qayed, Michelle Hermiston, Prakash Satwani, M Christa Krupski, Amy K. Keating, Rachel Wilcox, Cara A. Rabik, Vanessa A. Fabrizio, Vasant Chinnabhandar, A Yasemin Goksenin, Kevin J. Curran, Crystal L. Mackall, Theodore W. Laetsch, Liora M. Schultz

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Remarkable complete response rates have been shown with tisagenlecleucel, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy targeting CD19, in patients up to age 26 years with refractory/relapsed B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia; it is US Food and Drug Administration approved for this indication. Currently, patients receive a single dose of tisagenlecleucel across a wide dose range of 0.2 to 5.0 × 106 and 0.1 to 2.5 × 108 CAR T cells per kg for patients ≤50 and >50 kg, respectively. The effect of cell dose on survival and remission is not yet well established. Our primary goal was to determine if …

The Salento Prognostic Model For Limited-Stage Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma From The International T-Cell Project Network, Greg Hapgood, Monica Civallero, Yana Stepanishyna, Julie M. Vose, Monica Elena Cabrera, Ranjana H Advani, Stefano A. Pileri, Martina Manni, Steven M. Horwitz, Francine M. Foss, Felicitas Hitz, John Radford, Ivan Dlouhy, Carlos Chiattone, Won Seog Kim, Tetiana Skrypets, Arnon Nagler, Judith Trotman, Stefano Luminari, Massimo Federico

Journal Articles: Oncology and Hematology

The natural history of limited-stage peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCLs) remains poorly defined. We investigated outcomes and prognostic variables in patients registered in the T-Cell Project (TCP) (#NCT01142674) to develop a model to predict overall survival (OS) for the common nodal PTCL subtypes (PTCL-NOS, AITL, ALCL). The model was validated in an independent data set from Australian and Brazilian registries. 211 patients registered in the TCP between 2006-2018 were studied. The median age was 59 years (range 18-88) and median follow-up was 49 months. One hundred twenty-seven patients (78%) received anthracycline-based regimens, 5 patients (3%) radiotherapy alone (RT), 24 patients (15%) …

A Phase I First-In-Human Study Of Abbv-383, A B-Cell Maturation Antigen × Cd3 Bispecific T-Cell Redirecting Antibody, In Patients With Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma, Anita D'Souza, Ravi Vij, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: ABBV-383, a B-cell maturation antigen × CD3 T-cell engaging bispecific antibody, has demonstrated promising results in an ongoing first-in-human phase I study (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03933735) in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). Herein, we report safety and efficacy outcomes of this phase I dose escalation/expansion study.

METHODS: Patients with RRMM (≥ three prior lines including a proteasome inhibitor, an immunomodulatory drug, and an anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody) were eligible. ABBV-383 was administered intravenously over 1-2 hours once every 3 weeks, without any step dosing. A 3 + 3 design with backfilling for dose escalation was used (intrapatient escalation to highest …

The Ifn-Γ Receptor Promotes Immune Dysregulation And Disease In Sting Gain-Of-Function Mice, W. Alexander Stinson, Cathrine A. Miner, Fang R. Zhao, Annena Jane Lundgren, Subhajit Poddar, Jonathan J. Miner

2020-Current year OA Pubs

STING gain-of-function mutations cause STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy (SAVI) in humans, a disease characterized by spontaneous lung inflammation and fibrosis. Mice with STING gain-of-function mutations (SAVI mice) develop αβ T cell-dependent lung disease and also lack lymph nodes. Although SAVI has been regarded as a type I interferonopathy, the relative contributions of the three interferon receptors are incompletely understood. Here, we show that STING gain of function led to upregulation of IFN-γ-induced chemokines in the lungs of SAVI mice and that deletion of the type II IFN receptor (IFNGR1), but not the type I IFN receptor (IFNAR1) or …

Phase I Trial Of The Dll3/Cd3 Bispecific T-Cell Engager Bi 764532 In Dll3-Positive Small-Cell Lung Cancer And Neuroendocrine Carcinomas, Martin Wermke, Enriqueta Felip, Valentina Gambardella, Yasutoshi Kuboki, Daniel Morgensztern, Zohra Oum' Hamed, Meiruo Liu, Matus Studeny, Taofeek K Owonikoko

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas such as small-cell lung cancer (SCLC) have poor survival and high relapse rates. DLL3 is found on these carcinomas and has become a target of increasing interest in recent years. The bispecific DLL3/CD3 T-cell engager BI 764532 has been shown to induce complete tumor regression in a human T cell-engrafted mouse model. Here, we describe the study design of a first-in-human, phase I, multicenter, open-label, non-randomized, dose-escalation study in patients with SCLC or other DLL3-positive neuroendocrine carcinomas. The study will determine the maximum tolerated dose and evaluate safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics and preliminary efficacy of BI 764532 …

Inhibition Of Mitochondrial Complex I Reverses Notch1-Driven Metabolic Reprogramming In T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia., Natalia Baran, Alessia Lodi, Yogesh Dhungana, Shelley Herbrich, Meghan Collins, Shannon Sweeney, Renu Pandey, Anna Skwarska, Shraddha Patel, Mathieu Tremblay, Vinitha Mary Kuruvilla, Antonio Cavazos, Mecit Kaplan, Marc O Warmoes, Diogo Troggian Veiga, Ken Furudate, Shanti Rojas-Sutterin, Andre Haman, Yves Gareau, Anne Marinier, Helen Ma, Karine Harutyunyan, May Daher, Luciana Melo Garcia, Gheath Al-Atrash, Sujan Piya, Vivian Ruvolo, Wentao Yang, Sriram Saravanan Shanmugavelandy, Ningping Feng, Jason Gay, Di Du, Jun J Yang, Fieke W Hoff, Marcin Kaminski, Katarzyna Tomczak, R Eric Davis, Daniel Herranz, Adolfo Ferrando, Elias J Jabbour, M Emilia Di Francesco, David T Teachey, Terzah M Horton, Steven Kornblau, Katayoun Rezvani, Guy Sauvageau, Mihai Gagea, Michael Andreeff, Koichi Takahashi, Joseph R Marszalek, Philip L Lorenzi, Jiyang Yu, Stefano Tiziani, Trang Hoang, Marina Konopleva

Faculty Research 2022

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is commonly driven by activating mutations in NOTCH1 that facilitate glutamine oxidation. Here we identify oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos) as a critical pathway for leukemia cell survival and demonstrate a direct relationship between NOTCH1, elevated OxPhos gene expression, and acquired chemoresistance in pre-leukemic and leukemic models. Disrupting OxPhos with IACS-010759, an inhibitor of mitochondrial complex I, causes potent growth inhibition through induction of metabolic shut-down and redox imbalance in NOTCH1-mutated and less so in NOTCH1-wt T-ALL cells. Mechanistically, inhibition of OxPhos induces a metabolic reprogramming into glutaminolysis. We show that pharmacological blockade of OxPhos combined with …

Transcriptional Profiling Of Macrophages In Situ In Metastatic Melanoma Reveals Localization-Dependent Phenotypes And Function., Jan Martinek, Jianan Lin, Kyung In Kim, Victor G Wang, Te-Chia Wu, Michael Chiorazzi, Hannah Boruchov, Ananya Gulati, Shamreethaa Seeniraj, Lili Sun, Florentina Marches, Paul Robson, Anthony Rongvaux, Richard A Flavell, Joshy George, Jeffrey Chuang, Jacques Banchereau, Karolina Palucka

Faculty Research 2022

Modulation of immune function at the tumor site could improve patient outcomes. Here, we analyze patient samples of metastatic melanoma, a tumor responsive to T cell-based therapies, and find that tumor-infiltrating T cells are primarily juxtaposed to CD14⁺ monocytes/macrophages rather than melanoma cells. Using immunofluorescence-guided laser capture microdissection, we analyze transcriptomes of CD3⁺ T cells, CD14 ⁺ monocytes/macrophages, and melanoma cells in non-dissociated tissue. Stromal CD14⁺ cells display a specific transcriptional signature distinct from CD14⁺ cells within tumor nests. This signature contains LY75, a gene linked with antigen capture and regulation of tolerance and immunity in …

Vaccine Protection Against The Sars-Cov-2 Omicron Variant In Macaques, Abishek Chandrashekar, Adrianus C. M. Boon, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The rapid spread of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) variant, including in highly vaccinated populations, has raised important questions about the efficacy of current vaccines. In this study, we show that the mRNA-based BNT162b2 vaccine and the adenovirus-vector-based Ad26.COV2.S vaccine provide robust protection against high-dose challenge with the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in cynomolgus macaques. We vaccinated 30 macaques with homologous and heterologous prime-boost regimens with BNT162b2 and Ad26.COV2.S. Following Omicron challenge, vaccinated macaques demonstrated rapid control of virus in bronchoalveolar lavage, and most vaccinated animals also controlled virus in nasal swabs. However, 4 vaccinated animals that had moderate Omicron-neutralizing antibody titers …

Cs1 Car-T Targeting The Distal Domain Of Cs1 (Slamf7) Shows Efficacy In High Tumor Burden Myeloma Model Despite Fratricide Of Cd8+Cs1 Expressing Car-T Cells, Julie O'Neal, Julie K Ritchey, Matthew L Cooper, Jessica Niswonger, L Sofía González, Emily Street, Michael P Rettig, Susan W Gladney, Leah Gehrs, Ramzi Abboud, Julie L Prior, Gabriel J Haas, Reyka G Jayasinghe, Li Ding, Armin Ghobadi, Ravi Vij, John F Dipersio

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Despite improvement in treatment options for myeloma patients, including targeted immunotherapies, multiple myeloma remains a mostly incurable malignancy. High CS1 (SLAMF7) expression on myeloma cells and limited expression on normal cells makes it a promising target for CAR-T therapy. The CS1 protein has two extracellular domains - the distal Variable (V) domain and the proximal Constant 2 (C2) domain. We generated and tested CS1-CAR-T targeting the V domain of CS1 (Luc90-CS1-CAR-T) and demonstrated anti-myeloma killing in vitro and in vivo using two mouse models. Since fratricide of CD8 + cells occurred during production, we generated fratricide resistant CS1 deficient Luc90- …

An Artifact In Intracellular Cytokine Staining For Studying T Cell Responses And Its Alleviation., Zheng Gong, Qing Li, Jiayuan Shi, Guangwen Ren

Faculty Research 2022

Intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) is a widely employed ex vivo method for quantitative determination of the activation status of immune cells, most often applied to T cells. ICS test samples are commonly prepared from animal or human tissues as unpurified cell mixtures, and cell-specific cytokine signals are subsequently discriminated by gating strategies using flow cytometry. Here, we show that when ICS samples contain Ly6G⁺ neutrophils, neutrophils are ex vivo activated by an ICS reagent - phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) - which leads to hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) release and death of cytokine-expressing T cells. This artifact …

Providing A Helping Hand: Metabolic Regulation Of T Follicular Helper Cells And Their Association With Disease., Colleen L Mayberry, Natalie A Logan, John J Wilson, Chih-Hao Chang

Faculty Research 2022

T follicular helper (Tfh) cells provide support to B cells upon arrival in the germinal center, and thus are critical for the generation of a robust adaptive immune response. Tfh express specific transcription factors and cellular receptors including Bcl6, CXCR5, PD-1, and ICOS, which are critical for homing and overall function. Generally, the induction of an immune response is tightly regulated. However, deviation during this process can result in harmful autoimmunity or the inability to successfully clear pathogens. Recently, it has been shown that Tfh differentiation, activation, and proliferation may be linked with the cellular metabolic state. In this review …

Bone Morphogenetic Proteins Shape TReg Cells, Piotr Kraj

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) family includes cytokines controlling cell behavior, differentiation and homeostasis of various tissues including components of the immune system. Despite well recognized importance of TGF-β in controlling T cell functions, the immunomodulatory roles of many other members of the TGF-β cytokine family, especially bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), start to emerge. Bone Morphogenic Protein Receptor 1α (BMPR1α) is upregulated by activated effector and Foxp3+ regulatory CD4+ T cells (Treg cells) and modulates functions of both of these cell types. BMPR1α inhibits generation of proinflammatory Th17 cells and sustains peripheral Treg cells. This finding underscores the importance of …