The present disclosure provides compositions and methods for making and using engineered killer phagocytic cells for immunotherapy in cancer or infection by expressing a chimeric antigen receptor having an enhanced phagocytic activity, the chimeric receptor is encoded by a recombinant nucleic acid.

The invention provides an isolated and purified nucleic acid sequence encoding a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) directed against B-cell Maturation Antigen (BCMA). The invention also provides host cells, such as T-cells or natural killer (NK) cells, expressing the CAR and methods for destroying multiple myeloma cells.

The invention provides novel light-switchable CAR T-cells that can be remotely controlled through NIR-light-converting upconvension nanoparticles, and related CAR T constructs, nanoparticles, compositions and methods thereof for optogenetic therapy.

The present disclosure generally relates to therapies involving immune effector cells such as T cells engineered to express antigen receptors such as T cell receptors (TCRs) or chimeric antigen receptors (CARs). It is demonstrated herein that such antigen receptor-engineered immune effector cells may be generated in vitro/ex vivo as well as in vitro by delivering nucleic acid encoding an antigen receptor for genetic modification to cells using particles comprising the nucleic acid and a targeting molecule for targeting the immune effector cells, wherein the targeting molecule is a designed ankyrin repeat protein (DARPin). In particular, DARPins are described herein which are high-affinity binders for CDS binding to the CDS receptor on human and non-human primate (NHP) cells. Nanoparticles functionalized with CD8− targeting DARPins (CDS-DARPin) can deliver genes exclusively and specifically to human CD8.sup.+ T cells in vitro and in vivo.

Methods for manufacturing genetically engineered T cells expressing a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), such as a CAR that binds human CD19, BCMA, or CD70, and having multiple additional gene edits, for example, a disrupted Regnase-1 gene, a disrupted TGFBRII gene, a disrupted TRAC gene, a disrupted β2M gene, or a combination thereof, using CRISPR/Cas gene editing systems.

The present invention relates to methods for developing engineered T-cells for immunotherapy that are non-alloreactive. The present invention relates to methods for modifying T-cells by inactivating both genes encoding T-cell receptor and an immune checkpoint gene to unleash the potential of the immune response. This method involves the use of specific rare cutting endonucleases, in particular TALE-nucleases (TAL effector endonuclease) and polynucleotides encoding such polypeptides, to precisely target a selection of key genes in T-cells, which are available from donors or from culture of primary cells. The invention opens the way to standard and affordable adoptive immunotherapy strategies for treating cancer and viral infections.

There is provided a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) comprising a CD19-binding domain which comprises a) a heavy chain variable region (VH) having complementarity determining regions (CDRs) with the following sequences: CDR1—GY-AFSSS (SEQ ID No. 1); CDR2—YPGDED (SEQ ID No. 2) CDR3—SLLYGDYLDY (SEQ ID No. 3); and b) a light chain variable region (VL) having CDRs with the following sequences: CDR1—SASSSVSYMH (SEQ ID No. 4); CDR2—DTSKLAS (SEQ ID No. 5) CDR3—QQWNINPLT (SEQ ID No. 6). There is also provided a cell comprising such a CAR, and the use of such a cell in the treatment of cancer, in particular a B cell malignancy.

Described herein are methods for producing and utilizing an alternative signal 1 domain to construct an optimally signaling CAR. Alternative signal 1 domains of the present technology are based on alternatives to CD3ζ, including mutated ITAMs from CD3ζ (which contains 3 IT AM motifs), truncations of CD3ζ, and alternative splice variants known as CD3s, CD3 theta, and artificial constructs engineered to express fusions between CD3s or CD30 and CD3ζ. CAR polypeptides comprising alternative signal 1 domains are utilized to engineer CAR T cells. Further, this technology related to methods of treating cancer by administering to a subject in need thereof CAR T cells comprising alternative signal 1 domains.

A multispecific nanobodies chimeric antigen receptor and T-cell engager includes an HLA-G nanobody chimeric antigen receptor and a bispecific T-cell engager. The HLA-G nanobody chimeric antigen receptor includes an HLA-G nanobodies unit, a transmembrane domain, and a CD3z signaling domain. The bispecific T-cell engager includes a PD-L1 nanobodies unit and a CD3e nanobody.

The present disclosure provides methods and compositions for genetically modifying lymphocytes, for example T cells and/or NK cells. In some embodiments, the methods include reaction mixtures, and resulting cell formulations, that are created using whole blood, or a component thereof that is not a PBMC, and additionally comprise T cells and recombinant retroviral particles having polynucleotides that encode a CAR. In some embodiments, modified lymphocytes are reintroduced into a subject subcutaneously. In some embodiments, polynucleotides that provide T cells the ability to regulate cell survival and proliferation in response to binding to a CAR, are provided.