Clinicopathological features of mature T/NK cell lymphoma with aberrant CD20 or CD79α expression / 中华病理学杂志

Objective: To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of mature T/NK cell lymphomas with aberrant CD20 or CD79α expression. Methods: A retrospective analysis of 641 cases of mature T/NK cell lymphoma diagnosed from January 2014 to December 2020 was performed, and 14 cases of CD20-positive and one case of CD79α-positive mature T/NK-cell lymphoma were identified. Histological examination, immunohistochemical characterization, in situ hybridization for Epstein-Barr virus encoded early RNA (EBER), and PCR testing for immunoglobulin and T cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangements were performed. Clinicopathological characteristics of these lymphomas were analyzed. Results: There were 13 males and 2 females, with a median age of 56 years. There were 8 cases of peripheral T-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS), 3 cases of extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma, nasal type (ENKTCL), 2 cases of monomorphic epitheliotropic intestinal T-cell lymphoma (MEITL) and 2 cases of angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL). Twelve cases were stage Ⅲ or Ⅳ lymphomas. The prognosis was overall poor. The histology, immunophenotype and TCR gene rearrangement were not significantly different from the corresponding types of lymphoma. Ki-67 proliferation index was over 70% in all cases. The expression of CD20 or CD79α was weak and heterogeneous. All 15 case of Ig gene rearrangement were polyclonal. Conclusions: Mature T/NK cell lymphoma with abnormal expression of CD20 or CD79α is rare, commonly found in advanced stage, and associated with poor prognosis. The expression of CD20 or CD79α in these cases is weaker than the corresponding mature T/NK cell lymphomas, while its proliferation index is higher. Histomorphology, extensive immunoprofiling and molecular detection are required for accurate diagnosis.

Preparation of CD52-targeted chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells and their anti-leukemia effects / 中华血液学杂志

Objective: To construct chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells targeting CD52 (CD52 CAR-T) and validate the effect of CD52 CAR-T cells on CD52-positive leukemia. Methods: A second-generation CD52-targeting CAR bearing 4-1BB costimulatory domain was ligated into a lentiviral vector through molecular cloning. Lentivirus was prepared and packaged by 293 T cells with a four-plasmid system. Fluorescein was used to label cell surface antigens to evaluate the phenotype of CD52 CAR-T cells after infection. Flow cytometry and ELISA were used to evaluate the specific cytotoxicity of CD52 CAR-T cells to CD52-positive cell lines in vitro. Results: ①A pCDH-CD52scFv-CD8α-4-1BB-CD3ζ-GFP expressing plasmid was successfully constructed and used to transduce T cells expressing a novel CD52-targeting CAR. ②On day 6, CD52-positive T cells were almost killed by CD52-targeted CAR-T post lentivirus transduction [CD52 CAR-T (4.48 ± 4.99) %, vs Vector-T (56.58±19.8) %, P=0.011]. ③T cells transduced with the CAR targeting CD52 showed low levels of apoptosis and could be expanded long-term ex vivo. ④The CD52 CAR could promote T cell differentiation into central and effector memory T cells, whereas the proportion of T cells with a CD45RA(+) effector memory phenotype were reduced. ⑤CD52 CAR-T cells could specifically kill CD52-positive HuT78-19t cells but had no killing effect on CD52-negative MOLT4-19t cells. For CD52 CAR-T cells, the percentage of residual of HuT78-19t cells was (2.66±1.60) % at an the E:T ratio of 1∶1 for 24 h, while (56.66±5.74) % of MOLT4-19t cells survived (P<0.001) . ⑥The results of a degranulation experiment confirmed that HuT78-19t cells significantly activated CD52 CAR-T cells but not MOLT4-19t cells[ (57.34±11.25) % vs (13.06± 4.23) %, P<0.001]. ⑦CD52 CAR-T cells released more cytokines when co-cultured with HuT78-19t cells than that of vector-T cells [IFN-γ: (3706±226) pg/ml, P<0.001; TNF-α: (1732±560) pg/ml, P<0.01]. Conclusions: We successfully prepared CD52 CAR-T cells with anti-leukemia effects, which might provide the foundation for further immunotherapy.

Preclinical study of T cell receptor specifically reactive with KRAS G12V mutation in the treatment of malignant tumors / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#KRAS gene is one of the most common mutations of proto-oncogenes in human tumors, G12V is one of the most common mutation types for KRAS. It's challenging to chemically acquire the targeted drug for this mutation. Recent studies reported that this mutation peptides can form a neoepitope for T cell recognition. Our study aims to clone the T cell receptor (TCR) which specifically recognizes the neoepitope for KRAS G12V mutation and constructs TCR engineered T cells (TCR-T), and to investigate if TCR-Ts have strong antitumor response ability.@*METHODS@#In this study, tumor infiltrating lymphocytes were obtained from one colorectal cancer patient carrying KRAS G12V mutation. Tumor-reactive TCR was obtained by single-cell RT-5' rapid-amplification of cDNA ends PCR analysis and introduced into peripheral blood lymphocytes to generate TCR-Ts.@*RESULTS@#We obtained a high-affinity TCR sequence that specifically recognized the HLA-A*11:01-restricted KRAS G12V8-16 epitope: KVA11-01. KVA11-01 TCR-T could significantly kill various tumor cells such as PANC-1, SW480 and HeLa (overexpressing HLA-A*11:01 and KRAS G12V), and secreting high levels of interferon-γ (IFN-γ). Non-specific killing experiments suggested KVA11-01 specifically recognized tumor cells expressing both mutant KRAS G12V and HLA-A*11:01. In vivo assay, tumor inhibition experiments demonstrated that infusion of approximately 1E7 KVA11-01 TCR-T could significantly inhibit the growth of subcuta-neously transplanted tumors of PANC-1 and HeLa (overexpressing HLA-A*11:01 and KRAS G12V) cells in nude mice. No destruction of the morphologies of the liver, spleen and brain were observed. We also found that KVA11-01 TCR-T could significantly infiltrate into tumor tissue and had a better homing ability.@*CONCLUSION@#KVA11-01 TCR-T cells can effectively target a variety of malignant tumor cells carrying KRAS G12V mutation through in vitro and in vivo assay. KVA11-01 TCR-T cells have excellent biological activity, high specificity of target antigen and homing ability into solid tumor tissue. KVA11-01 TCR-T is expected to be an effective treatment for patients with KRAS G12V mutant solid malignancies.

Efficacy of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell in the Treatment of Refractory/Recurrent B Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia in Children / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To observe the efficacy of chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) in the treatment of children with refractory/recurrent B acute lymphocytic leukemia (B-ALL).@*METHODS@#Thirty-two patients with r/r B-ALL were treated by CAR-T, the recurrence and death respectively were the end point events to evaluate the efficacy and safety of CAR-T.@*RESULTS@#The median age of the patients was 7.5 (2-17.5) years old; 40 times CAR-T were received in all patients and the median number of CAR-T was 0.9×107/kg; efficacy evaluation showed that 2 cases died before the first evaluation. Thirty patients showed that 3, 6, and 9-moth RFS was (96.3±3.6)%, (81.4±8.6)% and (65.3±12.5)%, respectively, while 3, 6, and 9-month OS was all 100%, and 12, 24-month OS was (94.7±5.1)% and (76±12.8)%. BM blasts≥36% before reinfusion and ferritin peak≥2 500 ng/ml within two weeks of CAR-T cell reinfusion were associated with recurrence. Adverse reactions mainly included cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and CART-cell-related encephalopathy syndrome (CRES), CRS appeared in 26 patients within a week of CAR-T cell reinfusion. CRES reaction was detected in 12 patients. Eighteen patients received intravenous drip of tocilizumab, among them, 12 combined with glucocorticoid. CRS and CRES reactions were relieved within one week after treatment. Hormone dosage was related to the duration of remission in patients, and the cumulative dose of methylprednisolone≥8 mg/kg showed a poor prognosis.@*CONCLUSION@#CAR-T is a safe and effective treatment for r/r B-ALL, most CRS and CRES reactions are reversible. BM blasts ≥36% before reinfusion and cumulative dose of methylprednisolone ≥8 mg/kg after reinfusion both affect the therapeutic effect. Ferritin≥2 500 ng/ml within two weeks after reinfusion is related to disease recurrence and is an independent prognostic risk factor.

Molecular transduction in receptor-ligand systems by planar electromagnetic fields / Transdução molecular em sistemas receptor-ligante por campos electromagnéticos planares

Abstract The coupling of a ligand with a molecular receptor induces a signal that travels through the receptor, reaching the internal domain and triggering a response cascade. In previous work on T-cell receptors and their coupling with foreign antigens, we observed the presence of planar molecular patterns able to generate electromagnetic fields within the proteins. These planes showed a coherent (synchronized) behavior, replicating immediately in the intracellular domain that which occurred in the extracellular domain as the ligand was coupled. In the present study, we examined this molecular transduction - the capacity of the coupling signal to penetrate deep inside the receptor molecule and induce a response. We verified the presence of synchronized behavior in diverse receptor-ligand systems. To appreciate this diversity, we present four biochemically different systems - TCR-peptide, calcium pump-ADP, haemoglobin-oxygen, and gp120-CD4 viral coupling. The confirmation of synchronized molecular transduction in each of these systems suggests that the proposed mechanism would occur in all biochemical receptor-ligand systems.

Resumo A ligação de um ligante com um receptor molecular induz um sinal que viaja através do receptor, chegando ao domínio interno e disparando uma cascata de resposta. Em trabalhos anteriores em receptores de células T e sua ligação com antígenos estranhos, observamos a presença de padrões moleculares planares capazes de gerar campos eletromagnéticos dentro das proteínas. Esses planos mostraram um comportamento coerente (sincronizado), replicando, instantaneamente, no domínio intracelular o que ocorreu no domínio extracelular, enquanto o ligante era acoplado. No presente estudo, examinamos essa transdução - a capacidade de um sinal de acoplamento de penetrar profundamente a molécula receptora e induzir uma resposta. Verificamos a presença de um comportamento coerente em sistemas diversos de receptor-ligante. Para apreciar essa diversidade, apresentamos quatro sistemas bioquímicos diferentes: TCR-peptídeo, ADP-bomba de cálcio, hemoglobina-oxigênio e gp120-CD4 acoplamento viral. A confirmação de transdução molecular sincronizada em cada um desses sistemas sugere que o mecanismo proposto ocorreria em todos os sistemas bioquímicos receptor-ligante.

Enfermedad residual medible mediante reordenamientos de inmunoglobulinas y receptores de linfocitos-T / Measurable residual disease by rearrangements of immunoglobulins and T-lymphocyte receptors

Resumen Las leucemias agudas constituyen la neoplasia más frecuente en pacientes pediátricos. Actualmente, el 80% de los niños con leucemia linfoblástica aguda (LLA) logran curarse con quimioterapia con vencional pero el 20% de los mismos presentarán una reaparición de la enfermedad. La enfermedad residual medible (ERM) ha sido descripta como un importante factor pronóstico, que permite evaluar la respuesta de los pacientes al tratamiento. Una de las técnicas más sensibles par a estudiar ERM es la cuantificación de reordena mientos génicos de inmunoglobulinas (Ig) y receptores de linfocitos-T (TCR). Los objetivos del presente trabajo fueron describir los reordenamientos detectados de Ig/TCR, evaluar el efecto de la ERM en la supervivencia de niños con LLA y comparar la ERM por Ig/TCR con la cuantificada mediante citometría de flujo multiparamétrica (CFM). Del total de 455 pacientes estudiados, en el 96% fue posible caracterizar al menos un reordenamiento de Ig/TCR. El total de reordenamientos clonales detectados fue de 1550. La ERM pudo ser estudiada en forma exitosa en el 89% de los casos. El valor de ERM positiva combinada al día 33 y 78 de tratamiento, permitió identificar pacientes de alto riesgo, entre los previamente estratificados por la ERM mediante CFM al día 15. La comparación entre la determinación de ERM mediante reordenamientos Ig/TCR y CFM mostró una excelente correlación. El presente trabajo constituye un estudio de ERM mediante Ig/TCR realizado en un número muy significativo de pacientes diagnosticados en forma consecutiva, tratados en el marco de un protocolo homogéneo y con excelente seguimiento clínico.

Abstract Acute leukemias are the most common neoplasm in pediatric patients. Currently, 80% of children with diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are cured with conventional chemotherapy, but 20% of them will have a recurrence of the disease. Measurable Residual Disease (MRD) has been described as an important prognostic factor that allows evaluating the response of patients to treatment. One of the most sensitive techniques to study MRD is the quantification of immunoglobulins (Ig) and T-lymphocyte receptors (TCR) genes rearrangements. The aims of this study were to describe the detected Ig/TCR rearrangements, to evaluate the prognostic impact of MRD in our population of children with ALL and to compare the MRD values by Ig/TCR with those obtained by multiparametric flow cytometry (MFC). A total of 455 patients were studied. In 96% of the cases, it was possible to characterize at least one Ig/TCR rearrangement. The total number of Ig/TCR rear rangements detected was 1550. MRD was successfully applied in 89% of the cases. The combined positive MRD values at day 33 and 78 of treatment allow the identification of high-risk patients in cases previously stratified by MRD using flow cytometry at day 15. The comparison between MRD determination by Ig/TCR rearrangements and FC showed excellent correlation. The present work constitutes a study of MRD by Ig/TCR carried out in a very significant number of patients consecutively diagnosed, treated within a homogeneous protocol and with excellent clinical follow-up.

Interpretation of ASTCT Consensus Responses by Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cell Therapy CRS/ICANS--Review / 中国实验血液学杂志

Chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy was awarded as the largest research breakthrough in 2017 by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, at present, it is rapidly becoming the most promising new treatment for hematological malignancies. However, this therapy also produces a new challenge: toxic adverse events such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity, partial of them can bring death to the patients. The incidence and severity of the above toxic events in different multi-center trial reports are also different, which may be attributed to the different in the considerably variable assessment and grading of toxicities between clinical trials and across institutions. The ASTCT published at 2018 advanced the consensus grading for cytokine release syndrome and neurologic toxicity associated with immune effector cells, it was focusing on CRS and neurotoxicity associated with immune effector cells. In order to provide reference for the development of relevant work in this field and the formulation of security strategies in our country, the main content of the consensus was summarized briefly.

The Genome-Wide Changes in Expression Profile of CML T Cells After Up-regulation of TCRζ Chain Expression / 中国实验血液学杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To analyze the changes in the gene expression profile of T cells in CML patients after TCRζ up-regulation expression, and to explore the molecular mechanism of T cell reactivation after transgenic up-regulation of TCRζ.@*METHODS@#The peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs) from 3 newly untreated chronic-stage CML patients were collected, and the CD3@*RESULTS@#A total of 2248 differentially-expressed genes were obtained, including 553 up-regulated genes and 1695 down-regulated genes in experimental group as compared with those in control group (P<0.05) . The GO and KEGG enrichment analyses showed that differentially expressed genes involved in the biological processes related to T cell immune function, such as TCR signaling pathway, T cell proliferation and activation. Some of core genes involved in promoting the TCR signaling pathway, T cell proliferation, activation and apoptosis pathways were significantly up-regulated, while some core genes involved in inhibiting T cell activation were significantly down-regulated.@*CONCLUSION@#The molecular mechanism of the significantly improved T cell activation and proliferation ability in CML patients after TCRζ up-regulation may be related to the differential transcripts mediated signaling pathways of T cell activation, proliferation and apoptosis.

Research Advances in the Treatment of B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Based on Surface Antigen Expression --Review / 中国实验血液学杂志

B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is a common malignant tumor in hematopoietic system. Although the remission rate of the patients with adult B-ALL is similar to those with childhood B-ALL, the rate of long-term disease-free survival (DFS) rate is significantly lower, once recurrence, the remission rate of routine chemotherapy is low and the prognosis is so poor. Based on the expression of tumor cell surface antigens(such as CD19, CD20 and CD22), the specific monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies and chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T), and other targeted immunotherapy can greatly improve the efficacy of B-ALL patients, especially for patients with relapse and refractory. In this review, the progress of immunotherapy against B-ALL cell surface antigen is summarized briefly.

Target and Manufacturing of Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cells for T-cell Malignancies--Review / 中国实验血液学杂志

T lymphoid malignancy is a group of highly heterogeneous hematological tumors. Disease recurrence and resistance to therapy are the common causes of failed treatment. Traditional therapy is radiotherapy and chemotherapy, although it has achieved great success. However, many patients still failed to survive following the treatment. With the introduction of monoclonal antibodies, immunotherapy and cellular therapy into clinical practice, the outcome of hematologic malignancies has been significantly improved. In particular, chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CAR-T) showed high efficacy in treating B-cell lymphoma and acute B lymphocytic leukemia and surpassed any previous therapeutic strategies. However, this treatment seldom succeeded in treating T cell malignancies. In this review, the history of CAR-T cells treating T cell malignancies, and the clinical trials, adverse events of previously reported were summarized briefly.

First Case of Double T-Cell Receptor Alpha/Delta Rearrangements of t(11;14) and inv(14) and Subsequent JAK2 Rearrangement in a Patient With T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

No abstract available.

A giant step forward: chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy for lymphoma / 医学前沿

The combination of the immunotherapy (i.e., the use of monoclonal antibodies) and the conventional chemotherapy increases the long-term survival of patients with lymphoma. However, for patients with relapsed or treatment-resistant lymphoma, a novel treatment approach is urgently needed. Chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells were introduced as a treatment for these patients. Based on recent clinical data, approximately 50% of patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell lymphoma achieved complete remission after receiving the CD19 CAR-T cell therapy. Moreover, clinical data revealed that some patients remained in remission for more than two years after the CAR-T cell therapy. Other than the CD19-targeted CAR-T, the novel target antigens, such as CD20, CD22, CD30, and CD37, which were greatly expressed on lymphoma cells, were studied under preclinical and clinical evaluations for use in the treatment of lymphoma. Nonetheless, the CAR-T therapy was usually associated with potentially lethal adverse effects, such as the cytokine release syndrome and the neurotoxicity. Therefore, optimizing the structure of CAR, creating new drugs, and combining CAR-T cell therapy with stem cell transplantation are potential solutions to increase the effectiveness of treatment and reduce the toxicity in patients with lymphoma after the CAR-T cell therapy.

Different sites of extranodal involvement may affect the survival of patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma after chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy / 医学前沿

Factors associated with complete and durable remissions after anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell immunotherapy for relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma (r/r NHL) have not been well characterized. In this study, we found that the different sites of extranodal involvement may affect response, overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with r/r NHL treated with anti-CD19 CAR-T cells. In a cohort of 32 treated patients, 12 (37.5%) and 8 (25%) patients exhibited soft tissue lymphoma and bone marrow (BM) infiltrations, respectively, and 13 (41%) patients exhibited infiltration at other sites. The factors that may affect prognosis were identified through multivariable analysis. As an independent risk factor, soft tissue infiltration was the only factor significantly correlated with adverse prognosis (P < 0.05), whereas other factors did not reach statistical significance. Furthermore, the site of extranodal tumor infiltration significantly and negatively affected OS and PFS in patients with r/r NHL treated with anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy. PFS and OS in patients with BM involvement were not significantly different from those of patients with lymph node involvement alone. Thus, anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy may improve the prognosis of patients with BM infiltration.

Chimeric antigen T cell receptor treatment in hematological malignancies

No abstract available.

Profiling of remote skeletal muscle gene changes resulting from stimulation of atopic dermatitis disease in NC/Nga mouse model

Although atopic dermatitis (AD) is known to be a representative skin disorder, it also affects the systemic immune response. In a recent study, myoblasts were shown to be involved in the immune regulation, but the roles of muscle cells in AD are poorly understood. We aimed to identify the relationship between mitochondria and atopy by genome-wide analysis of skeletal muscles in mice. We induced AD-like symptoms using house dust mite (HDM) extract in NC/Nga mice. The transcriptional profiles of the untreated group and HDM-induced AD-like group were analyzed and compared using microarray, differentially expressed gene and functional pathway analyses, and protein interaction network construction. Our microarray analysis demonstrated that immune response-, calcium handling-, and mitochondrial metabolism-related genes were differentially expressed. In the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and Gene Ontology pathway analyses, immune response pathways involved in cytokine interaction, nuclear factor-kappa B, and T-cell receptor signaling, calcium handling pathways, and mitochondria metabolism pathways involved in the citrate cycle were significantly upregulated. In protein interaction network analysis, chemokine family-, muscle contraction process-, and immune response-related genes were identified as hub genes with many interactions. In addition, mitochondrial pathways involved in calcium signaling, cardiac muscle contraction, tricarboxylic acid cycle, oxidation-reduction process, and calcium-mediated signaling were significantly stimulated in KEGG and Gene Ontology analyses. Our results provide a comprehensive understanding of the genome-wide transcriptional changes of HDM-induced AD-like symptoms and the indicated genes that could be used as AD clinical biomarkers.

Traditional Chinese medicine (tumor) prevention and evaluation model based on ultra-early immune response information amplification index naCTL and multidimensional immunoinformatic index TCR/BCR/HLA effective diversity / 中国中药杂志

The best time of tumor intervention is before the formation of tumor. However,due to the limited number of tumor cells,it is difficult to quantify tumor cells and immunity by the current methods available( such as CTC,ct DNA). This affects the tumor prevention in this period,and the in-depth detection,intervention and evaluation of traditional Chinese medicine( TCM)( tumor) prevention. Due to the limitations of the current detection,the evaluation system turns to detect tumor neoantigen-specific CTL( naCTL) that are directly relating to tumor cells and proliferate to high order of magnitudes after activation,and immune repertoire( TCR/BCR/HLA) effective diversity,introduces immune checkpoints,uses information of " disease" in Western medicine and " syndrome" in TCM( prevention),and sets up a multi-dimensional statistical immunity model using a variety of data analysis and related algorithms. This model can amplify the ultra-early information of tumor,indirectly evaluate the quantity and status of tumor cells,and provide quantitative measurement and new evaluation methods for the normalization of immunity and TCM( tumor) prevention. This model is not only one of important evaluation methods for resisting tumor immunity and treating TCM( tumor) prevention,but also will reveal the scientific connotation of TCM syndrome from the perspective of immunology.

Transcriptome and Regulatory Network Analyses of CD19-CAR-T Immunotherapy for B-ALL / 基因组蛋白质组与生物信息学报·英文版

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy has exhibited dramatic anti-tumor efficacy in clinical trials. In this study, we reported the transcriptome profiles of bone marrow cells in four B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) patients before and after CD19-specific CAR-T therapy. CD19-CAR-T therapy remarkably reduced the number of leukemia cells, and three patients achieved bone marrow remission (minimal residual disease negative). The efficacy of CD19-CAR-T therapy on B-ALL was positively correlated with the abundance of CAR and immune cell subpopulations, e.g., CD8 T cells and natural killer (NK) cells, in the bone marrow. Additionally, CD19-CAR-T therapy mainly influenced the expression of genes linked to cell cycle and immune response pathways, including the NK cell mediated cytotoxicity and NOD-like receptor signaling pathways. The regulatory network analyses revealed that microRNAs (e.g., miR-148a-3p and miR-375), acting as oncogenes or tumor suppressors, could regulate the crosstalk between the genes encoding transcription factors (TFs; e.g., JUN and FOS) and histones (e.g., HIST1H4A and HIST2H4A) involved in CD19-CAR-T therapy. Furthermore, many long non-coding RNAs showed a high degree of co-expression with TFs or histones (e.g., FOS and HIST1H4B) and were associated with immune processes. These transcriptome analyses provided important clues for further understanding the gene expression and related mechanisms underlying the efficacy of CAR-T immunotherapy.

High-affinity T cell receptors redirect cytokine-activated T cells (CAT) to kill cancer cells / 医学前沿

Cytokine-activated T cells (CATs) can be easily expanded and are widely applied to cancer immunotherapy. However, the good efficacy of CATs is rarely reported in clinical applications because CATs have no or very low antigen specificity. The low-efficacy problem can be resolved using T cell antigen receptor-engineered CAT (TCR-CAT). Herein, we demonstrate that NY-ESO-1 HLA-A*02:01-specific high-affinity TCR (HAT)-transduced CATs can specifically kill cancer cells with good efficacy. With low micromolar range dissociation equilibrium constants, HAT-transduced CATs showed good specificity with no off-target killing. Furthermore, the high-affinity TCR-CATs delivered significantly better activation and cytotoxicity than the equivalent TCR-engineered T cells (TCR-Ts) in terms of interferon-γ and granzyme B production and in vitro cancer cell killing ability. TCR-CAT may be a very good alternative to the expensive TCR-T, which is considered an effective personalized cyto-immunotherapy.

Features and therapeutic potential of T-cell receptors in high-grade glioma / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

BACKGROUND@#Previous studies have shown that endogenous T cells play an important role in the prolonged survival time of high-grade glioma (HGG) patients. Our objectives were to investigate the features of T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoires in HGG patients and to elucidate any potential therapeutic value.@*METHODS@#During November 2011 and December 2018, tumor tissues and blood samples of 35 patients with HGG who underwent surgery at Beijing Tiantan Hospital or Beijing Shijitan Hospital were selected after surgery. After isolating DNA from samples, multiple rounds of PCR were performed to establish a DNA immune repertoire (IR). Then, the sequences and frequencies of the complementarity-determining 3 (CDR3) region in TCR beta chain (TRB) were identified by high-throughput sequencing and IR analysis. A survival follow-up was conducted monthly thereafter until December 2018. Finally, the t test and Mann-Whitney test were used to compare statistical differences between two sets of data.@*RESULTS@#The Shannon diversity index (SHDI) of TRB sequences of HGG patients was significantly lower than that of healthy individuals (7.34 vs. 8.45, P = 0.001). The SHDI of TRB sequences of glioblastoma (GBM) patients with more than 16 months survival time was much higher than that of GBM patients with shorter survival times in both tumor tissues (3.48 ± 0.31 vs. 6.21 ± 0.33, t = -5.49, P = 0.002) and blood cells (6.02 ± 0.66 vs. 7.44 ± 0.32, t = -2.20, P = 0.036). In addition, patients achieved a distinctly higher proportion compared to that of healthy individuals in the proportion of TRBV9 and TRBV5 functional regions (9.83% vs. 6.83%, P = 0.001). Surgical tissue from patients who survived more than 16 months yielded a much higher proportion of TRBV4 and TRBV9 regions (7.14% vs. 3.28%, t = 3.18, P = 0.019). In surgical tissues from two GBM patients who survived for longer than 46 months, we found a potentially therapeutic TCR sequence.@*CONCLUSIONS@#HGG patients have less species diversity of TCR repertoires compared with that of healthy individuals. TRBV9 regions in TCRs may be protective factors for long-term survival of GBM patients.

Clinical significance of T cell receptor excision circle (TREC) quantitation after allogenic HSCT

BACKGROUND: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a well-established treatment modality for a variety of diseases. Immune reconstitution is an important event that determines outcomes. The immune recovery of T cells relies on peripheral expansion of mature graft cells, followed by differentiation of donor-derived hematopoietic stem cells. The formation of new T cells occurs in the thymus and as a byproduct, T cell receptor excision circles (TRECs) are released. Detection of TRECs by PCR is a reliable method for estimating the amount of newly formed T cells in the circulation and, indirectly, for estimating thymic function. The aim of this study was to determine the role of TREC quantitation in predicting outcomes of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) identical allogenic HSCT.METHODS: The study was conducted on 100 patients receiving allogenic HSCT from an HLA identical sibling. TREC quantification was done by real time PCR using a standard curve.RESULTS: TREC levels were inversely related to age (P=0.005) and were significantly lower in patients with malignant diseases than in those with benign diseases (P=0.038). TREC levels could predict relapse as an outcome but not graft versus host disease (GvHD) and infections.CONCLUSION: Age and nature of disease determine the TREC levels, which are related to relapse.