Rejection of Experimental Hodgkins Lymphoma by T-Cells Engineered with a CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor

Anna Swanson, Eleanor Cheadle, David Gilham, Dorothy Crawford, Simon Talbot, Ingo Johannessen

5Laboratory Medicine (Virology), Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
The University of Edinburgh, Centre for Infectious Diseases, Edinburgh, UK.
The University of Edinburgh, Division of Pathway Medicine, Chancellor’s Building, Edinburgh, UK.
The University of Manchester, Clinical and Experimental Immunology Group, Manchester, UK.

DOI: 10.4236/jct.2012.35071                

Abstract

T cells engineered to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) combining an external antibody binding domain with the CD3ζ T cell receptor (TCR) signaling domain for triggering cell activation are being used for immunotherapeutic targeting of tumor cells in a non-HLA restricted manner. In this study we transduced T cells with a CD19-CAR construct containing a truncated CD34 gene (tCD34) marker and used these to target the B cell antigen CD19 on the surface of a Hodgkin’s lymphoma (HL) cell line (L591) both in vitro and in vivo. Levels of tCD34 expression in transduced peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) ranged from 6% - 20% and this was increased to 82% after selection for transduced tCD34+ cells. In vitro cytotoxicity testing on a CD19+ HL cell line (L591) showed specific cell lysis initiated by the CD19-CAR transduced PBMCs. Importantly, CD19-CAR T cells prevented the growth of L591 HL tumor cells when co-injected subcutaneously (sc) in 6/6 severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice. There was no evidence of anti-tumor activity when CD19-CAR T cells were infused intravenously (iv) at the same time as L591 HL tumor cells were injected sc. However, 3/6 SCID mice showed tumor rejection within 83 days after iv infusion of CD19-CAR T cells 3 - 9 days after establishment of L591 HL tumors, while all control animals succumbed to tumors within 60 days. Interestingly, immuno-histochemical analysis of L591 HL tumors demonstrated that CD19-CAR T cells were detected not earlier than 11 days after infusion within the tumor mass. These results suggest that CD19 is a potentially attractive target for the immunotherapy of HL.

Keywords

Hodgkin’s Lymphoma; CD19; Chimeric Antigen Receptor; Immunotherapy

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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