Provided herein are novel therapeutic compositions and methods that keep cellular immunotherapies in the circulation or at the site of injection for extended periods of time without resorting to the use of cytotoxic preconditioning. More specifically the compositions and methods herein lymphodeplete and reduce or ablate sites in the secondary lymphatics where the cellular immunotherapy is bound and sequestered, without the use of cytotoxic preconditioning.

The present application provides antibody-TCR chimeric constructs comprising an antibody moiety that specifically binds to a target antigen fused to a TCRM capable of recruiting at least one TCR-associated signaling module. Also provided are methods of making and using these constructs.

In certain embodiments, this disclosure relates to conjugates comprising GM-CSF and IL-7 and uses related thereto, e.g., enhancing the adaptive immune system. Typically the GM-CSF and IL-7 are connected by a polymer linker, e.g., polypeptide. In certain embodiments, the disclosure relates to nucleic acids encoding these polypeptide conjugates, vectors comprising nucleic acid encoding polypeptide conjugates, and protein expression systems comprising these vectors such as infectious viral particles and host cells comprising such a nucleic acids.

Disclosed herein are polynucleotides encoding ligand-inducible gene switch polypeptides, and systems comprising gene switch polypeptides for modulating the expression of a heterologous gene and an interleukin in a host cell. The compositions, methods and systems described herein facilitate ligand dependent expression of polypeptides including but not limited to cytokines and antigen binding polypeptides.

Provided herein are methods of expanding B cells, and in particularly B10 cells capable of producing IL-10, ex vivo. The methods include incubation of harvested B cells in the presence of IL-21. Compositions comprising the ex vivo expanded B cells and methods of using the expanded B cell-containing compositions to treat diseases or conditions are also provided. Methods of assessing B10 cell function in a subject are also provided.

In order to improve the efficiency of gene introduction in CAR therapy employing a transposon method, provided is a method for preparing genetically-modified T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptor, comprising: (1) a step of preparing non-proliferative cells which are obtained by stimulating a group of cells comprising T cells using an anti-CD3 antibody and an anti-CD28 antibody followed by a treatment for causing the cells to lose their proliferation capability; (2) a step of obtaining genetically-modified T cells into which a target antigen-specific chimeric antigen receptor gene has been introduced using a transposon method; (3) a step of mixing the non-proliferative cells prepared by step (1) with the genetically-modified T cells obtained by step (2), and co-culturing the mixed cells while stimulating the mixed cells using an anti-CD3 antibody and anti-CD28 antibody; and (4) a step of collecting the cells after culture.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a lethal complication of allograft transplantation. The current strategy of using immunosuppressive agents to control GVHD may cause general immune suppression and limit the effectiveness of allograft transplantation. Adoptive transfer of regulatory T cells (Treg) can prevent GVHD in rodents, indicating the therapeutic potential of Treg for GVHD in humans. However, the clinical application of Treg-based therapy is hampered by the low frequency of human Treg and the lack of a reliable model to test their therapeutic effects in vivo. Human alloantigen-specific Treg are generated from antigenically-na?ve precursors in a large scale ex vivo using allogeneic activated B cells as stimulators. Here, a human allogeneic GVHD model is established in humanized mice to mimic GVHD after allograft transplantation in humans. The ex vivo-induced CD8.sup.hi Treg can control GVHD in an allo-specific manner by reduction of alloreactive T-cell proliferation, and inflammatory cytokine and chemokine secretion within target organs through a CTLA-4-dependent mechanism in humanized mice. Importantly, the Tregs can induce long-term tolerance effectively without compromising general immunity and graft-versus-tumor (GVT) activity.

The present invention relates generally to immunization and immunotherapy for the treatment or prevention of HIV. In particular, the methods include in vivo and/or ex vivo enrichment of HIV-specific CD4+ T cells.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a lethal complication of allograft transplantation. The current strategy of using immunosuppressive agents to control GVHD may cause general immune suppression and limit the effectiveness of allograft transplantation. Adoptive transfer of regulatory T cells (Treg) can prevent GVHD in rodents, indicating the therapeutic potential of Treg for GVHD in humans. However, the clinical application of Treg-based therapy is hampered by the low frequency of human Treg and the lack of a reliable model to test their therapeutic effects in vivo. Human alloantigen-specific Treg are generated from antigenically-na?ve precursors in a large scale ex vivo using allogeneic activated B cells as stimulators. Here, a human allogeneic GVHD model is established in humanized mice to mimic GVHD after allograft transplantation in humans. The ex vivo-induced CD8.sup.hi Treg can control GVHD in an allo-specific manner by reduction of alloreactive T-cell proliferation, and inflammatory cytokine and chemokine secretion within target organs through a CTLA-4-dependent mechanism in humanized mice. Importantly, the Tregs can induce long-term tolerance effectively without compromising general immunity and graft-versus-tumor (GVT) activity.

The present invention relates to compositions and methods of isolated polynucleotides that encode or polypeptides comprising glypican-3 (GPC3). The invention also includes a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) wherein the CAR is able to target GPC3. The invention further includes methods of treating a subject or diagnosing and treating diseases, disorders or conditions associated with dysregulated glypican-3.