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01-10-2018 | Original Article

Increased antitumor activities of glypican-3-specific chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells by coexpression of a soluble PD1–CH3 fusion protein

Authors: Zeyan Pan, Shengmeng Di, Bizhi Shi, Hua Jiang, Zhimin Shi, Ying Liu, Yi Wang, Hong Luo, Min Yu, Xiuqi Wu, Zonghai Li

Published in: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy | Issue 10/2018

Abstract

Our recent clinical study demonstrated that glypican-3 (GPC3)-specific chimeric antigen receptor-modified T (CAR-T) cells are a promising treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the interaction of programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) and PD-L1-mediated T-cell inhibition is involved in immune evasion in a wide range of solid tumors, including HCC. To overcome this problem, we introduced a fusion protein composed of a PD-1 extracellular domain and CH3 from IgG4 into GPC3-specific CAR-T cells (GPC3-28Z) to block the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway. GPC3-specific CAR-T cells carrying the PD-1–CH3 fusion protein (sPD1) specifically recognized and lysed GPC3-positive HCC cells. The proliferation capacity of GPC3-28Z-sPD1 T cells after weekly stimulation with target cells was much higher than that of control GPC3-28Z T cells. Additionally, the coexpression of sPD1 could protect CAR-T cells from exhaustion when incubated with target cells, as phosphorylated AKT and Bcl-xL expression levels were higher in GPC3-28Z-sPD1 T cells than in GPC3-28Z cells. Importantly, in two HCC tumor xenograft models, GPC3-28Z-sPD1 T cells displayed a significantly higher tumor suppression capacity than GPC3-28Z T cells. In addition, an increased number of CD3⁺ T cells in the circulation and tumors and increased granzyme B levels and decreased Ki67 expression levels in the tumors were observed in the mice treated with GPC3-28Z-sPD1 T cells. Together, these data indicated that GPC3-specific CAR-T cells carrying sPD1 show promise as a treatment for patients with HCC.

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Title: Increased antitumor activities of glypican-3-specific chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells by coexpression of a soluble PD1–CH3 fusion protein
Authors: Zeyan Pan
Shengmeng Di
Bizhi Shi
Hua Jiang
Zhimin Shi
Ying Liu
Yi Wang
Hong Luo
Min Yu
Xiuqi Wu
Zonghai Li
Publication date: 01-10-2018
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy / Issue 10/2018
Print ISSN: 0340-7004
Electronic ISSN: 1432-0851
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-018-2221-1

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