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Generation of hypoimmunogenic T cells from genetically engineered allogeneic human induced pluripotent stem cells

Nature Biomedical Engineering volume 5, pages 429–440 (2021)Cite this article

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Abstract

Avoiding the immune rejection of transplanted T cells is central to the success of allogeneic cancer immunotherapies. One solution to protecting T-cell grafts from immune rejection involves the deletion of allogeneic factors and of factors that activate cytotoxic immune cells. Here we report the generation of hypoimmunogenic cancer-antigen-specific T cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) lacking β2-microglobulin, the class-II major histocompatibility complex (MHC) transactivator and the natural killer (NK) cell-ligand poliovirus receptor CD155, and expressing single-chain MHC class-I antigen E. In mouse models of CD20-expressing leukaemia or lymphoma, differentiated T cells expressing a CD20 chimeric antigen receptor largely escaped recognition by NKG2A+ and DNAM-1+ NK cells and by CD8 and CD4 T cells in the allogeneic recipients while maintaining anti-tumour potency. Hypoimmunogenic iPSC-derived T cells may contribute to the creation of off-the-shelf T cell immunotherapies.

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Fig. 1: B2MKO iPS-T cells escape the response and lysis of allogeneic CD8 T cells.
Fig. 2: CIITA-disrupted iPS-T cells escaped recognition by allogeneic CD4 T cells.
Fig. 3: HLA-E-transduced iPS-T cells reduced the reactivity of NKG2A+ NK cells.
Fig. 4: tKO/E iPS-T cells reduced the reactivity of DNAM-1+ NK cells.
Fig. 5: tKO/E iPS-T cells show better survival than WT iPS-T cells in co-culture with whole PBMCs.
Fig. 6: tKO/E iPS-T cells survived and suppressed tumour cells in vivo in a human immunocompetent mouse model.

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Data availability

The main data supporting the results in this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information. The raw and analysed datasets generated during the study are too large to be publicly shared, but they are available for research purposes from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank S. Yamanaka for providing the HLA-homozygous iPSC line and giving critical advice for our research work; H. Nakauchi for providing other iPSC lines; T. Nakahata for providing the animals; K. Eto, D. Suzuki and S. Nakamura for providing the B2M-knockout vector and giving critical advice for our research; P. Karagiannis for providing technical writing support for the manuscript; A. Tanaka for the animal care; M. Nomura for supporting the whole-exome sequencing analysis; P. Gee for supporting the gene modification using MaxCyte; Y. Mishima, Y. Kawai, N. Yanagawa and A. Maruyama for giving advice on our research work; and S. Kitayama, K. Ohara, Y. Miyake, E. Imai, A. Kumagai, S. Kamibayashi and K. Noda for technical assistance. This work was supported in part by Practical Research for Innovative Cancer Control, Core Center for iPS Cell Research from Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (JP21bm0104001), and a Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (19K23863).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cell Growth and Differentiation, Center for iPS Cell Research and Application (CiRA), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Bo Wang, Shoichi Iriguchi, Masazumi Waseda, Norihiro Ueda, Tatsuki Ueda, Atsutaka Minagawa, Akihiro Ishikawa, Hisashi Yano, Tomoko Ishi & Shin Kaneko

  2. Department of Clinical Application, CiRA, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Huaigeng Xu & Akitsu Hotta

  3. Humanized Model Laboratory, Central Institute for Experimental Animals (CIEA), Kawasaki, Japan

    Ryoji Ito, Motohito Goto & Riichi Takahashi

  4. Division of Cancer Immunotherapy, Exploratory Oncology Research and Clinical Trial Center, National Cancer Center, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan

    Yasushi Uemura

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Contributions

B.W. and S.K. designed the study; B.W. and S.K. interpreted the data; B.W., T.U., N.U., H.Y., T.I. and A.I. performed the experiments. R.I., M.G. and R.T. generated and provided the NOG dKO mice. B.W. and S.K. analysed the data; S.I., A.M., H.X., A.H., R.I., M.G. and R.T provided critical materials and advice for the experiments. S.I., M.W. and Y.U. contributed to the analysis and discussion of the data; S.K. supervised the study; and B.W. and S.K. wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shin Kaneko.

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Competing interests

S.K. is a founder, shareholder and chief scientific officer at Thyas Co. Ltd and received research funding from Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd, Kirin Co. Ltd, Terumo Co. Ltd, Tosoh Co. Ltd and Thyas Co. Ltd.

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Peer review information Nature Biomedical Engineering thanks Cliona Rooney and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available.

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Wang, B., Iriguchi, S., Waseda, M. et al. Generation of hypoimmunogenic T cells from genetically engineered allogeneic human induced pluripotent stem cells. Nat Biomed Eng 5, 429–440 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-021-00730-z

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