CDR3δ -grafted γ9δ2T cells mediate effective antitumor reactivity

Cell Mol Immunol. 2012 Mar;9(2):147-54. doi: 10.1038/cmi.2011.28. Epub 2011 Sep 12.

Abstract

Adoptive cell-transfer therapy (ACT) has been reported to suppress growing tumors and to overcome tumor escape in animal models. As a candidate ACT effector, γ9δ2T cells can be activated and expanded in vitro and in vivo and display strong antitumor activity against colorectal, lung, prostate, ovarian and renal cell carcinomas. However, it is difficult to obtain a large enough number of γδT cells to meet the need for immunotherapy that can overcome the cancer patients' immune suppressive tumor microenvironment. In previous studies, our lab confirmed that γ9δ2T cells recognized tumor cells via the CDR3δ region of the γδ-T-cell receptor (TCR). We constructed full-length human peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC)-derived γ9 and δ2 chains in which the CDR3 region was replaced by an ovarian epithelial carcinoma (OEC)-derived CDR3. We transferred the CDR3δ-grafted γ9δ2TCR into peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBLs) to develop genetically modified γ9δ2T cells. In vitro studies have shown that these CDR3δ-grafted γ9δ2T cells can produce cytokines after stimulation with tumor cell extracts and exhibit cytotoxicity towards tumor cells, including human OEC and cervical adenocarcinoma. CDR3δ-grafted γ9δ2T cells adoptively transferred into nude mice bearing a human OEC cell line demonstrated significant antitumor effects. These results indicate that CDR3δ-grafted γ9δ2T cells might be candidates for clinical tumor immunotherapy.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adenocarcinoma / immunology
  • Adenocarcinoma / pathology
  • Adenocarcinoma / therapy*
  • Adoptive Transfer
  • Animals
  • Antigens, Neoplasm / immunology
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Complementarity Determining Regions / genetics
  • Cytotoxicity, Immunologic
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Immunotherapy, Adoptive / methods*
  • Lymphocyte Activation / genetics
  • Mice
  • Mice, Nude
  • Mutation / genetics
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / immunology
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / pathology
  • Ovarian Neoplasms / therapy*
  • Protein Engineering
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / genetics
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta / metabolism*
  • T-Cell Antigen Receptor Specificity / genetics
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology
  • T-Lymphocytes / metabolism*
  • T-Lymphocytes / pathology
  • T-Lymphocytes / transplantation
  • Transgenes / genetics
  • Tumor Microenvironment
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / immunology
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / pathology
  • Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / therapy*

Substances

  • Antigens, Neoplasm
  • Complementarity Determining Regions
  • Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta
  • T-cell receptor Vdelta2, human
  • T-cell receptor Vgamma9, human