Provided by the present invention is a chimeric antigen receptor comprising a co-stimulatory receptor, the chimeric antigen receptor having a structure of scFv(X)-(Y)CD3zeta-2A-(Z); X comprises a tumortargeting antibody or a ligand or receptor capable of specifically binding to a tumor; Y is an intracellular region of the co-stimulatory receptor, and Z is a co-stimulatory receptor that is selected from among ICOS, CD28, CD27, HVEM, LIGHT, CD40L, 4-1BB, OX40, DR3, GITR, CD30, TIMI, SLAM, CD2, CD226. Further provided by the present invention are CAR-T cells that are constructed by means of a recombinant expression vector of the described chimeric antigen receptor, a preparation method therefor and an application thereof. The CAR-T cells described in the present invention significantly improve the tumor-killing abilities and amplification abilities thereof.

The present invention relates to artificial antigen presenting cell (aAPC) scaffolds to provide cells with specific functional stimulation to obtain phenotypic and functional properties ideal to mediate tumor regression or viral clearance. In particular, the scaffolds of the present invention comprise antigens, such as peptide-MHC (pMHC) class I molecules, and specific combinations of cytokines and co-stimulatory molecules to allow effective expansion and functional stimulation of specific T cells.

Provided are polynucleotides and viral vectors, particularly, alphavirus vectors such as Sindbis viral vectors, which encode multiple, e.g., two or more, epitopes of at least one tumor associated antigen in which each epitope is separated by a processing or enzyme cleavage site. The multiple epitopes of the two or more tumor associated antigens encoded by the described polynucleotides and viral vectors may be the same or different. Methods of treating mammalian subjects having a cancer or tumor expressing the tumor associated antigen epitopes are provided, in which the viral vectors encoding the multiple epitopes, as well as other immunostimulatory or immunomodulatory components, generate an anti-cancer or anti-tumor immune response in which high levels of effector T cells increase the survivability of tumored mammalian subjects and result in epitope spreading, thus providing a further enhancement of the immune response.

The present disclosure provides methods comprising administering to the individual an effective amount of an agent that decreases or inhibits TIGIT expression and/or activity and an anti-cancer agent and/or an anti-cancer therapy. Further provided are kits comprising an anti-cancer agent, an agent that decreases or inhibits TIGIT expression and/or activity, or both, as well as instructions for use thereof.

The present disclosure provides variant immunomodulatory polypeptides, and fusion polypeptides comprising the variant immunomodulatory peptides. The present disclosure provides T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptides, and compositions comprising same, where the T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptides comprise a variant immunomodulatory polypeptide of the present disclosure. The present disclosure provides nucleic acids comprising nucleotide sequences encoding the T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptides, and host cells comprising the nucleic acids. The present disclosure provides methods of modulating the activity of a T cell; the methods comprise contacting the T cell with a T-cell modulatory multimeric polypeptide of the present disclosure.

Disclosed herein are circular RNAs and transfer vehicles, along with related compositions and methods of treatment. The circular RNAs can comprise group I intron fragments, spacers, an IRES, duplex forming regions, and/or an expression sequence, thereby having the features of improved expression, functional stability, low immunogenicity, ease of manufacturing, and/or extended half-life compared to linear RNA. Pharmaceutical compositions comprising such circular RNAs and transfer vehicles are particularly suitable for efficient protein expression in immune cells in vivo. Also disclosed are precursor RNAs and materials useful in producing the precursor or circular RNAs, which have improved circularization efficiency and/or are compatible with effective circular RNA purification methods.

The disclosure relates to compositions and methods of generating synthetic antigen receptors or SAR (e.g., SIR, zSIR, cTCR, ab-TCRs, AABD-TCRs, TFP, TACs etc.) and antibodies (e.g., bispecific antibodies, DARTs etc.) comprising one or more novel antigen binding domains. SARs as described comprise single chain immune receptors (e.g., 1.sup.st, 2.sup.nd and 3.sup.rd generation chimeric antigen receptors, TFPs. Tri-TAC and the like) and multiple chain immune receptors (e.g., SIR, zSIR, cTCR. ab-TCR. AABD-TCR. αβTFP, ydTFP, recombinant TCRs etc.). SARs are able to redirect immune cell specificity and reactivity toward one or more selected targets exploiting the antigen-binding domain properties.

Provided herein are compositions and methods for the treatment of a disease, such as cancer, using a chimeric antigen receptor or genetically-modified cells comprising a chimeric antigen receptor having specificity for CD20. The invention provides polynucleotides encoding such chimeric antigen receptors, and genetically-modified cells comprising such chimeric antigen receptors. Also provided are methods for making such genetically-modified cells and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the same. The invention further provides methods for treating a disease (e.g., cancer) in a subject by administering such genetically-modified cells or compositions. The main embodiments concern CARs with an scFv specific for CD20, the hinge and transmembrane domains from CD8, the costimulatory cytoplasmic or signalling domain from co-stimulatory molecules Novell (N1) or Novel6 (N6) and the CD3zeta intracellular signaling domain.

The present invention provides a chimeric antigen receptor having a structure of scFv(X)-(Y)CD 3zeta-MN.X comprises a tumor targeting antibody or a ligand or receptor capable of specifically binding to a tumor. Y is an intracellular region of a costimulatory receptor selected from ICOS, CD28, CD27, HVEM, LIGHT, CD40L, 4-1BB, OX40, DR3, GITR, CD30, SLAM, CD2, and CD226; M is an intracellular region of a gamma chain family cytokine receptor, the cytokine receptor being selected from IL2Ra, IL2Rb, IL4Ra, IL7Ra, IL9Ra, IL15Ra, and IL21Ra. N is an intracellular region of IL2Rg. The present invention further provides a CAR-T cell constructed from the recombinant expression vector of said chimeric antigen receptor, a preparation method therefor and the use thereof. The CAR-T cell of the present invention significantly improves tumor killing capacity and amplification capacity.

The invention provides compositions and methods for treating diseases associated with expression of CD20 or CD22. The invention also relates to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) specific to CD20 or CD22, vectors encoding the same, and recombinant T or natural killer (NK) cells comprising the CD20 CAR or CD22 CAR. The invention also includes methods of administering a genetically modified T cell or NK cell expressing a CAR that comprises a CD20 or CD22 binding domain.