Engineered Jurkat Cells for Targeting Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen on Prostate Cancer Cells by Nanobody-Based Chimeric Antigen Receptor

Background: Recently, modification of T cells with CAR has been an attractive approach for adoptive immunotherapy of cancers. Typically, CARs contain a scFv. Most often, scfvs are derived from a monoclonal antibody of murine origin and may be a trigger for host immune system that leads to the T-cell...

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Main Authors: Mahmoud Hassani, Fatemeh Hajari Taheri, Zahra Sharifzadeh, Arash Arashkia, Jamshid Hadjati, Wytske M. van Weerden, Shahriyar Abdoli, Mohammad Hossein Modarressi, Mohsen Abolhassani
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Pasteur Institute of Iran 2020-03-01
Series:Iranian Biomedical Journal
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Online Access:http://ibj.pasteur.ac.ir/article-1-2922-en.pdf
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Summary:Background: Recently, modification of T cells with CAR has been an attractive approach for adoptive immunotherapy of cancers. Typically, CARs contain a scFv. Most often, scfvs are derived from a monoclonal antibody of murine origin and may be a trigger for host immune system that leads to the T-cell clearance. Nanobody is a specific antigen-binding fragment derived from camelid that has great homology to human VH and low immunogenic potential. Therefore, in this study, nanobody was employed instead of scFv in CAR construct. Methods: In this study, a CAR was constructed based on a nanobody against PSMA (NBPII-CAR). At first, Jurkat cells were electroporated with NBPII-CAR, and then flow cytometry was performed for NBPII-CAR expression. For functional analysis, CAR T cells were co-cultured with prostate cancer cells and analyzed for IL-2 secretion, CD25 expression, and cell proliferation. Results: Flow cytometry results confirmed the expression of NBPII-CAR on the transfected Jurkat cells. Our data showed the specificity of engineered Jurkat cells against prostate cancer cells by not only increasing the IL-2 cytokine (about 370 pg/ml) but also expressing the T-cell activation marker CD25 (about 30%). In addition, proliferation of engineered Jurkat cells increased nearly 60% when co-cultured with LNCaP (PSMA+), as compared with DU145 (PSMA-). Conclusion: Here, we describe the ability of nanobody-based CAR to recognize PSMA that leads to the activation of Jurkat cells. This construct might be used as a promising candidate for clinical applications in prostate cancer therapy.
ISSN:1028-852X
2008-823X