The invention relates to: a composition for culturing natural killer cells, comprising, as an active ingredient, a fusion protein comprising an IL-2 protein and a CD80 protein; and a method for preparing natural killer cells by using same. Particularly, a composition for culturing natural killer cells, comprising, as an active ingredient, a fusion protein comprising IL-2 or a variant thereof and CD80 or a fragment thereof, of the present invention; promotes the proliferation of natural killer cells, induces the expression of CD16 and NKp46, and increases the expression and secretion of granzyme B and perforin, thereby being effectively usable in the preparation of natural killer cells having an excellent anticancer immune function.

A composition for culturing peripheral blood monocyte-derived regulatory T cells includes at least one antibody selected from the group consisting of anti-CD2, anti-CD3, anti-CD7, anti-CD8, anti-CD28, anti-CD30L, anti-CD40, anti-CD70, anti-CD80, anti-CD83, and anti-CD86; at least one cytokine selected from the group consisting of interleukin-2, interleukin-4, interleukin-7, interleukin-12, interleukin-15, interleukin-34, and TGF-β; and superoxide dismutase. A regulatory T cell culturing method using this composition is also provided. The regulatory T cells according obtained by this method can be utilized for treatment of autoimmune diseases.

Provided are engineered human immune cells, a preparation method, and an application thereof. The engineered human immune cells are immune killer lymphocytes induced by reprogramming human T cells, from which the BCL11B gene is deleted. The engineered human immune cells retain markers and functions of the T cells from which they are derived and have markers and functions of NK cells. The reprogrammed engineered human immune cells can be used to prepare drugs for treating tumors and infectious diseases.

Cartridges for manufacturing a population of cells suitable for formulation as a cellular therapeutic are disclosed herein, along with systems and instruments for operating the cartridges and performing methods to generate the population of cells suitable for formulation as a cellular therapeutic. The population of cells suitable for formulation as a cellular therapeutic can be immunological cells, such as T lymphocytes, including endogenous T cells (ETCs), tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), CAR T-cells, TCR engineered T-cells, or otherwise engineered T-cells. The systems and methods can be largely automated.

The present invention includes compositions and methods for treating T cell lymphomas and leukemias. In certain aspects, the compositions and methods include CAR T cells targeting CD2, CD5, or CD7 and modified cells wherein CD2, CD5, or CD7 has been knocked-out.

Provided herein are ex vivo methods for the expansion of cord blood-derived natural killer cells and methods of their use. Examples of embodiments include stimulating mononuclear cells from cord blood in the presence of antigen presenting cells (APCs) and IL-2 and re-stimulating the cells with APCs to produce expanded NK cells. In specific embodiments, the method does not utilize human leukocyte antigen (HLA) matching.

Provided are methods of making innate immune cell compositions containing gamma.delta (γδ) T cells and/or Natural Killer (NK) cells, and the resulting compositions and related products of manufacture and kits for use in cancer and infectious disease therapy. The methods provided herein permit tailoring of the relative amounts of gamma.delta (γδ) T cells and Natural Killer (NK) cells in the compositions. for cellular therapies against a wide variety of cancers and infectious diseases. The resulting compositions can further be used to generate compositions containing either NK cells alone or gamma.delta T cells alone, for immune cellular therapies. The compositions provided herein also can be genetically altered: the gamma delta T cells and Natural Killer cells are modified to express chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) or exogenous T cell receptors (TCRs), which can be used to target any cell surface molecule either directly or indirectly, e.g., a marker on a cancer cell or an infected cell.

This invention describes a novel CRISPR/Cas9 target identification platform permitting the discovery of novel genes and pathways involved in the ability of T cells and NK cells to react against and generate an anti-tumor response.

The present disclosure relates to composition and methodology for using the CD2 receptor to block viral replication, such as HIV-1 infection. In one embodiment, viral target cells such as blood CD4 T cells can be rendered resistant to HIV through stimulation of the CD2 receptor with either an antibody, a ligand, or a small molecule that binds to the CD2 receptor. Pre-stimulation of CD2 can be used to enhance the anti-HIV immunity and used to promote immune response from HIV infection or from an anti-HIV vaccine.

Disclosed herein are therapeutic B lymphocytes engineered to express bispecific antibodies that are able to engage T-cells to destroy tumor cells. The B lymphocytes can be autologous, allogeneic, or syngeneic. Also disclosed is a pharmaceutical composition comprising a therapeutic B lymphocyte disclosed herein in a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier. Also disclosed herein is a method for treating cancer in a subject, comprising administering to the subject an effective amount of activated B lymphocytes engineered to express bispecific antibodies that are able to engage T-cells to destroy tumor cells.