ENGINEERED HUMAN IMMUNE CELLS, PREPARATION METHOD AND APPLICATION THEREOF
20220325246 · 2022-10-13
Inventors
- Peng LI (Hong Kong, CN)
- Zhiwu JIANG (Hong Kong, CN)
- Zhaoyang TANG (Hong Kong, CN)
- Le QIN (Hong Kong, CN)
- Rui LIAO (Hong Kong, CN)
- Diwei ZHENG (Hong Kong, CN)
- Yuanbin CUI (Hong Kong, CN)
- Simiao LIN (Hong Kong, CN)
- Yao YAO (Hong Kong, CN)
Cpc classification
C12N2310/20
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
A61K35/17
HUMAN NECESSITIES
A61P31/00
HUMAN NECESSITIES
C12N9/22
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C12N2800/80
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C12N15/11
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C12N15/90
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C12N5/0638
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C12N2501/51
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
A61P35/00
HUMAN NECESSITIES
International classification
A61K35/17
HUMAN NECESSITIES
A61P35/00
HUMAN NECESSITIES
C12N15/11
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
C12N15/90
CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
Abstract
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.
Claims
1. Immune killer lymphocytes induced by reprogramming of human T cells, which retain markers and functions of human T cells from which the immune killer lymphocytes are derived and have markers and functions of NK cells, wherein the reprogramming of the human T cells involves deletion of a BCL11B gene.
2. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1, wherein the human T cells are mature human T cells or a cell population comprising mature human T cells; preferably, the mature human T cells or the cell population comprising the mature human T cells are derived from human cord blood or human peripheral blood; and preferably, the mature human T cells or the cell population comprising the mature human T cells are derived from mature T cells or cell populations obtained by differentiation of pluripotent stem cells, embryonic stem cells or cord blood stem cells.
3. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1, expressing functional TCR, CD3 and NKp30.
4. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1, expressing a marker of NK cells selected from the following group consisting of CD11c, NKG2D and CD161; preferably, immunosuppression checkpoints PD-1, CTLA-4 or FOXP3 are of low expression or no expression in the immune killer lymphocytes; and preferably, NK-related markers CD127, CD16, KIRDL2, KIRDL3 and NKG2A are of low expression or no expression in the immune killer lymphocytes.
5. The novel immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1, wherein compared with the T cells from which the immune killer lymphocytes are derived, expression of NOTCH is up-regulated
6. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1, wherein compared with the T cells from which the immune killer lymphocytes are derived, expression of transcription factors LEF1 and TCF7 is down-regulated, and expression of NOTCH, AP1, ID2, TBX21 and NFIL3 is up-regulated.
7. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1, wherein TCR-mediated signal transduction of the immune killer lymphocytes is enhanced; preferably, compared with the T cells from which the immune killer lymphocytes are derived, expression of genes of the cells, which are related to the TCR-mediated signal transduction and comprise CSF2, FOS, MAPK12, MAP3K8, IFNγ, NFKBIA, MAPK11, IL-10 and TEC, is up-regulated; and preferably, compared with NK cells, T cell recognition and TCR signal transduction of the immune killer lymphocytes are enhanced; and preferably, expression of CD3, CD4, CD8 and CD40LG is up-regulated.
8. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1, wherein compared with the T cells from which the immune killer lymphocytes are derived, NK killing toxicity-related signal transduction of the immune killer lymphocytes is enhanced; and preferably, compared with the T cells from which the immune killer lymphocytes are derived, expression of genes of the immune killer lymphocytes, which are related to the NK killing toxicity-related signal transduction and comprise PRF1, CSF2, ICAM1, CD244, PLCG2, IFNG, FCER1G, GZMB, NCR2, NCR1, KIR2DL4 and SYK, is up-regulated.
9. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1, comprising cell subsets CD8+NKp46+NKp44+NKp30+, CD4+NKp30+, and γδTCR+NKp46+NKp44+NKp30+T.
10. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1, wherein the human T cells are mature human T cells, and the reprogramming of the human T cells comprises: 1) activating mature human T cells; 2) performing BCL11B gene knockout on the activated mature human T cells obtained in step 1); and 3) culturing the cells obtained in step 2) with a T cell culture medium.
11. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 10, wherein in step 1), the activation is performed using an anti-human CD3 antibody, an anti-human CD28 antibody, and an anti-human CD2 antibody; and preferably, magnetic beads of anti-human CD3 antibody, anti-human CD28 antibody and anti-human CD2 antibody are mixed with the mature human T cells in a ratio of 1:2 and incubated to activate the T cells.
12. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 10, wherein in step 2), the BCL11B gene knockout is performed by CRISPR/CAS9; preferably, a target of the gene knockout is at a second exon of the BCL11B gene; and preferably, the target of the gene knockout is at a third exon of the BCL11B gene.
13. The immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 10, wherein in step 3), the T cell medium comprises IL-2; and preferably, the cells obtained in step 2) are not co-cultured with OP9-DL1.
14. A method for preparing the immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1, comprising: 1′) activating human T cells; 2′) performing BCL11B gene knockout on the activated human T cells obtained in step 1′); and 3′) culturing the cells obtained in step 2′) with a T cell culture medium.
15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the human T cells are mature human T cells or a cell population comprising mature human T cells; preferably, the mature human T cells or the cell population comprising the mature human T cells are derived from human cord blood or human peripheral blood; and preferably, the mature human T cells or the cell population comprising the mature human T cells are derived from mature T cells or cell populations obtained by differentiation of pluripotent stem cells, embryonic stem cells or cord blood stem cells.
16. The method according to claim 14, wherein in step 1′), the activation is performed using an anti-human CD3 antibody, an anti-human CD28 antibody, and an anti-human CD2 antibody; and preferably, magnetic beads of anti-human CD3 antibody, anti-human CD28 antibody and anti-human CD2 antibody are mixed with mature human T cells in a ratio of 1:2 and incubated to activate the T cells.
17. The method according to claim 14, wherein in step 2′), the BCL11B gene knockout is performed by CRISPR/CAS9; preferably, the gene knockout is performed at a second exon of a BCL11B gene; and preferably, the gene knockout is performed at a third exon of the BCL11B gene.
18. The method according to claim 1, wherein in step 3′), the T cell medium comprises IL-2; and preferably, the cells obtained in step 2′) are not co-cultured with OP9-DL1.
19. (canceled)
20. A method for treating tumors, AIDS and infectious diseases, comprising administering an effective amount of the immune killer lymphocytes according to claim 1 to subject in need thereof; and preferably, the infectious diseases are viral infectious diseases.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0074] To further elaborate on the technical means adopted and the effects achieved in the present application, the solutions of the present application are further described below through specific examples in conjunction with drawings, but the present application is not limited to the scope of the examples.
[0075] The present application is not limited to the relative arrangement, numeric expressions and numerical values of the components and steps set forth in these examples, unless otherwise noted. Techniques, methods and devices known to those of ordinary skill in the art may not be discussed in detail, but in appropriate circumstances, techniques, methods and devices should be regarded as part of the specification.
EXAMPLE 1
Preparation of Reprogrammed Natural Killer (ITNK) Cells of the Present Application
[0076] Construction of Gene Knockout Plasmid Vector
[0077] According to the selection rule of CRISP/CAS9 target sites: GN19NGG, where GN19 was a target site, N was still better G, and the target site can be on the antisense strand (i.e., the sequence order on the sense strand is CCN N19C), the following target sequences were selected and forward (F) and reverse (R) primers were designed as guideRNA (gRNA), respectively. The gRNA was annealed and ligated into the digested PX458 vectors to construct PX458-gBCL11B vectors (as shown in
TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 BCL11B target sequences and their corresponding gRNAs list Knoc kout Target Speci- effi- Location sequences Forward and reverse primers ficity ciency Second GACCCTGACCTGC F: caccGACCCTGACCTGCTCACCTG 58 39 exon TCACCTG (SEQ ID NO: 2) (SEQ ID NO: 1) R: aaacCAGGTGAGCAGGTCAGGGTC (SEQ ID NO: 3) Second GAAGCAGTGTGG F: caccGAAGCAGTGTGGCGGCAGCT 67 48 exon CGGCAGCT (SEQ (SEQ ID NO: 5) ID NO: 4) R: aaacAGCTGCCGCCACACTGCTTC (SEQ ID NO: 6) Second CAGGTGGTCATCT F: caccCAGGTGGTCATCTTCGTCGG 97 90 exon TCGTCGG (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 8) NO: 7) R: aaacCCGACGAAGATGACCACCTG (SEQ ID NO: 9) Second GCAGGTGGTCATC F: caccGCAGGTGGTCATCTTCGTC 95 60 exon TTCGTC (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 11) NO: 10) R: aaacCGACGAAGATGACCACCTG (SEQ ID NO: 12) Second GCTCAGGAAAGT F: caccGCTCAGGAAAGTGTCCGAGC 86 59 exon GTCCGAGC (SEQ (SEQ ID NO: 14) ID NO: 13) R: aaacGCTCGGACACTTTCCTGAG (SEQ ID NO: 15) Second GAGTCCCGTCACC F: caccGAGTCCCGTCACCCGAGACC 93 49 exon CGAGACC (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 17) NO: 16) R: aaacGGTCTCGGGTGACGGGACT (SEQ ID NO: 18) Third GAAGTGATCACG F: caccGAAGTGATCACGGATGAGTG 81 55 exon GATGAGTG (SEQ (SEQ ID NO: 20) ID NO: 19) R: aaacCACTCATCCGTGATCACTT (SEQ ID NO: 21) Third GGTGACGGGACTC F: caccGGTGACGGGACTCAGGGTGA 62 69 exon AGGGTGA (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 23) NO: 22) R: aaacTCACCCTGAGTCCCGTCAC (SEQ ID NO: 24) Third TGCAGCGCGCGCC F: caccTGCAGCGCGCGCCCGGTCTC 87 63 exon CGGTCTC (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 26) NO: 25) R: aaacGAGACCGGGCGCGCGCTGCA (SEQ ID NO: 27) Fourth CACGAGAGCGAC F: caccCACGAGAGCGACCCGTCGCT 99 49 exon CCGTCGCT (SEQ (SEQ ID NO: 29) ID NO: 28) R: aaacAGCGACGGGTCGCTCTCGTG (SEQ ID NO: 30) Fourth GCGACGGGTCGCT F: caccGCGACGGGTCGCTCTCGTGG 97 69 exon CTCGTGG (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 32) NO: 31) R: aaacCCACGAGAGCGACCCGTCG (SEQ ID NO: 33) Fourth TCCATGCTGAAGC F: caccTCCATGCTGAAGCTCGACTC 91 60 exon TCGACTC (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 35) NO: 34) R: aaacGAGTCGAGCTTCAGCATGGA (SEQ ID NO: 36) Fourth ACGGGTCGCTCTC F: caccACGGGTCGCTCTCGTGGTGG 90 92 exon GTGGTGG (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 38) NO: 37) R: aaacCCACCACGAGAGCGACCCGT (SEQ ID NO: 39) Fourth AGCCGCAACCGC F: caccAGCCGCAACCGCGAGAACGG 98 55 exon GAGAACGG (SEQ (SEQ ID NO: 41) ID NO: 40) R: aaacCCGTTCTCGCGGTTGCGGCT (SEQ ID NO: 42) Fourth GCAACTTGACGGT F: caccGCAACTTGACGGTGCACCGG 97 73 exon GCACCGG (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 44) NO: 43) R: aaacCCGGTGCACCGTCAAGTTG (SEQ ID NO: 45) Fourth GAGCTGGGCCGCC F: caccGAGCTGGGCCGCCCGGGGCC 39 76 exon CGGGGCC (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 47) NO: 46) R: aaacGGCCCCGGGCGGCCCAGCT (SEQ ID NO: 48) Third GGTCAGACGGAG F: caccGGTCAGACGGAGGCTCCCTT 61 65 exon GCTCCCTT (SEQ ID (SEQ ID NO: 50) NO: 49) R: aaacAAGGGAGCCTCCGTCTGACC (SEQ ID NO: 51)
[0078] According to the knockout efficiency in Table 1, the gRNA gene knockout plasmid vectors at the second exon and the third exon were selected to be knocked out for the next experiment. In the present application, preferably, BCL11B gene knockout was performed in the second exon and the third exon, the third pair of gRNA with the highest knockout efficiency was knocked out by using a mixture of the first pair of gRNA with the lowest knockout efficiency and the second pair of gRNA with the lowest knockout efficiency at the second exon, and the gene knockout plasmids corresponding to the third pair of gRNA with the lowest knockout efficiency at the third exon and the mixture thereof could reprogram T cells to obtain the immune killing lymphocytes of the present application. In this example, BCL11B gene knockout plasmids were constructed by using gRNA of SEQ ID NO: 5, SEQ ID NO: 6, SEQ ID NO: 50 and SEQ ID NO: 51, respectively, and mixed for the next experiment.
[0079] Sorting and Activation of T Cells
[0080] T Cells were sorted and activated using the following method.
[0081] (1) Peripheral blood including human mature T cells and cord blood including human mature T cells were centrifuged at 300×g for 10 minutes, and plasma was collected and thermally inactivated at 56° C. for 30 minutes.
[0082] (2) The precipitated granular blood cells were suspended with 0.9% NaCl, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were separated by Ficoll density gradient centrifugation.
[0083] (3) Negative sorting was performed with MACS Pan T Cell Isolation kit (produced by Miltenyi Biotec in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany) to enrich all T cells (Pan T) from the blood such as peripheral blood and cord blood.
[0084] The above (1) to (3) are the steps of isolating human mature T cells from peripheral blood and cord blood, and it should be noted that other T cell sources are also acceptable, such as the directed differentiation of pluripotent stem cells and hematopoietic stem cells. T cells from all sources were activated with a T cell activation kit (produced by Miltenyi Biotec). Magnetic beads coated with anti-human CD3, anti-human CD28 antibody and anti-human CD2 were mixed and incubated with T cells in a ratio of 1:2 (cell density: 2.5×10.sup.6 cells/ml, and the medium: T551-H3 medium (produced by Takara, Japan) containing 5% autologous plasma, hIL2 (100 IU/ml), gentamicin sulfate (20 μg/ml), 10 mm of HEPES, 2 mm of glutamine and 1% penicillin/streptomycin) and then activated. After activation for 24 hours to 48 hours, T cells were eluted from antibiotin MACS iBead™ granules for later use.
[0085] Induced Reprogramming
[0086] (1) CRISP/CAS 9 knockout vectors PX458-gBCL11B were transduced into the above-mentioned activated T cells by electrotransfer (T-023, LONZA Amaxa Nucleofector, Lonza).
[0087] (2) After 12 hours, T cells transduced with PX458-gBCL11B (such cells were referred to PX458-T) were centrifuged and cultured with T551-H3 (produced by Takara, Japan) medium (containing 5% autologous plasma or fetal bovine serum (FBS), 500 IU/ml hIL2 and gentamicin sulfate (20 μg/ml)).
[0088] (3) The fresh medium was changed every 3 days, and the cell density was kept in the range of 0.5×10.sup.6 cells/ml to 1×10.sup.6 cells/ml until day 14 after electrotransfer.
[0089] (4) Whether the second exon and the third exon of BCL11B of T cells transduced with PX458-gBCL11B were subjected to knockout such as site induced insertion or deletion, was detected and verified by gene sequencing. The control group was T cells transduced with PX458 empty vectors (Mock).
[0090] (5) The expression level of BCL11B proteins in T cells transduced with PX458-gBCL11B was detected and verified by Western Blotting to further confirm the deletion of BCL11B proteins, and the control group was T cells transduced with PX458 empty vectors (Mock). The results of Western Blotting are shown in
[0091] Phenotype Identification of Reprogrammed Cells
[0092] As described above, after 14 days of electrotransfer of T cells, 19.5% to 68.7% of the resulting cells expressed both T cell markers such as CD3 and NK cell markers such as NKp46, CD56, NKp30 and NKp44, and thus it was determined that the human ITNK cells of the present application were obtained. NK cells only expressed NK cell markers such as NKp46 and CD56, but did not express T cell markers such as CD3. T cells subjected to electrotransfer of empty vectors expressed T cell markers such as CD3, but did not express NK cell markers. The expression of cell markers of T cells, NK cells and ITNK cells is shown in
TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Phenotypic differences of ITNK cells, T cells and NK cells — T cells NK cells ITNK cells T cell marker CD3, etc., — CD3, etc., NK cell marker — High High expression expression of of NKp46 NKp46, (which is of no expression/ CD56, NKp30 low expression in and NKp44 CD4-positive ITNK cells), CD56, NKp30 and NKp44 BCL11B High Low Deletion expression expression expression
[0093] In addition, according to the observation from the confocal microscope, the cell morphology of ITNK cells reprogrammed from T cells was different from the cell morphology of T cells and similar to the cell morphology of NK cells, and the reprogrammed ITNK cells had small nucleus (the volume of T cell nucleus relative to the whole cell), plentiful intracellular matrix, large granules, abundant endoplasmic reticulum and high protein synthesis activity, indicating that reprogrammed ITNK cells were immune killer lymphocytes. The transmission electron microscopic images of T cells, NK cells and ITNK cells are shown in
[0094] In addition, the inventors also compared the expression profiles of these NK markers in the subsets of BCL11B-deficient T cells derived from cord blood and peripheral blood, and found that the percentages of CD8+NKP46+ cells and CD8+CD56+ cells were significantly higher than the percentages of CD4+NKP46+ cells and CD4+CD56+ cells, indicating that NKP46+CD3+ ITNK cells mainly derived from CD8+ T cells (see
[0095] CD4−CD8−NKp46+ subset expressed “TCRγδ” and was γδTCR+ ITNK cells (see
EXAMPLE 2
Source Identification of ITNK Cells of the Present Application
[0096] TCRαβ sequencing: T cells derived from the same donor and ITNK cells obtained in Example 1 were subjected to RNA extraction and CDR3 region targeted amplification through human TCRαβ analysis kit to obtain TCR RNA. TCR RNA was subjected to sequencing on Hiseq 4000 platform to obtain a TCR library. Clustering combination analysis was performed with MiXCR(ref). The type of TCRαβ clone was derived with the parameter of “-chain” through the MiXCR clone derivation instruction. The diversity of TCR clones of T cells derived from the same donor and ITNK cells was compared by TCR sequencing, and it was found that the diversity of TCR clones was consistent (see
EXAMPLE 3
Single-Cell Immunophenotype Identification of ITNK Cells of the Present Application
[0097] ITNK cells obtained in Example 1 were subjected to single-cell immunophenotype analysis by mass cytometry (CyTOF) respectively, and the control group was T cells transduced with empty vectors.
[0098] Preparation and pretreatment of mass spectrometer samples: Cells from culture suspension were centrifuged, re-suspended with PBS containing 0.5% BSA and 0.02% NaN.sub.3, and incubated with anti-human CD16/32 monoclonal antibody at room temperature for 10 minutes to block the Fc receptor. Then, a mixture of metal-labeled antibodies against cell surface molecules was added and incubated on ice for further 20 minutes. The antibodies were pre-coupled antibodies (produced by Fluidigm) or were internally coupled using a mass spectrometry flow coupling kit (produced by Fluidigm) according to the instructions. 5 mM of cisplatin was added to the cells, and the cells were incubated and stained on ice in FBS (produced by Fluidigm) for 1 minute. After the cells were treated with a fixation/permeabilization buffer (produced by Thermo Fisher), the cells were mixed and incubated with the metal-labeled antibodies to label intracellular proteins. After the cells were cleaned, the cells were stained with 1 mL of 191/193Ir DNA intercalator (produced by Fluidigm) that was diluted at a ratio of 1:4000 (the intercalator was diluted with PBS containing 1.6% paraformaldehyde (produced by EMS)) and then stored at 4° C. Before detection, the cells were washed once with PBS containing 0.5% BSA and 0.02% NaN.sub.3 and once with ddH.sub.2O, then re-suspended and diluted to about 10.sup.6 cells/ml with ultrapure water (ddH.sub.2O). Subsequently, cell sample data were detected and collected using CyTOF2 device (produced by Fluidigm) at an event rate of <400 events/sec.
[0099] According to the cellular immunophenotypic differences of 40 markers, clustering analysis was performed through PhenoGraph clustering algorithm. ITNK cells derived from cord blood (hereinafter referred to as CB-ITNK), ITNK cells derived from peripheral blood (hereinafter referred to as PBMC-ITNK) and Mock-T cells were integrated and classified into 39 subsets, as shown in
[0100] According to results of cell marker expression heterogeneity analysis by mass cytometry, the ITNK cells of the present application included CD3-negative cell subset of NO. 33, CD4+ cell subsets of NOs. 5 to 10, CD8+ cell subsets of NOs. 20 to 22 and 26 to 28, and TCRγδ+ cell subsets of NOs. 23 to 24, and all expressed NK-related markers such as CD56, NKp30, NKp44, NKp46 or CD11C, and compared with γδT cells, NKp46, NKp30 and NKp44 markers were of high expression in TCRγδ+ ITNK cells, i.e., (NKp46.sup.high NKp30.sup.high NKp44.sup.high) (as shown in
[0101] In addition, in ITNK cells derived from cord blood, the histogram as shown in
EXAMPLE 4
RNA-Seq Transcription Profile Analysis of ITNK Cells of the Present Application
[0102] In order to study the entire gene expression profile of ITNK cells, the inventors performed RNA sequencing analysis on T cells derived from 4 cord blood samples and 3 adult peripheral blood samples, ITNK cells derived from 4 cord blood samples and 3 adult peripheral blood samples, and NK cells derived from 2 cord blood samples and 2 adult peripheral blood samples. The sorting operation is as follows: flow cytometry analysis or sorting was performed by flow cytometers Canto, FACS Fortessa (BD), FACSAriaII, etc. Cell-surface receptor labeling: the cells and antibody were mixed in 50 μl of flow buffer (PBS solution containing 2% FBS) and incubated at 4° C. for 30 minutes in the dark. Cell intracellular labeling: the cells were subjected to permeable treatment with Foxp3/transcription factor staining buffer (produced by eBioscience), after the buffer was eluted, blocked with mouse serum or rabbit serum, incubated with antibodies at 4° C. for 30 minutes in the dark, washed with flow buffer and then suspended for subsequent flow cytometry analysis or sorting. Cell sorting strategy and sorting purity were verified (as shown in
[0103] Principal component analysis (PCA) was performed on RNA sequencing results of 18 samples for similarity evaluation, and it was found that ITNK cells were different from T cells and NK cells according to transcriptome analysis (as shown in
TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Expression of related genes of ITNK cells relative to NK cells ENTREZ Basic log2 fold ID Marker value change lfcSE stat P value padj 6932 TCF7 6118.39588 −1.7050171 0.20634066 −8.2631176 1.4192E−16 3.4959E−14 51176 LEF1 4011.12315 −1.1451791 0.15917866 −7.194300 36.2782E−13 6.9436E−11 3575 IL7R 1810.03157 −3.9931208 0.40305169 −9.9072177 3.8728E−23 6.2964E−20 4609 MYC 1160.22897 −2.6861929 0.28569782 −9.4022167 5.3425E−21 4.1361E−18 50943 FOXP3 769.302246 −2.0215289 0.58426298 −3.459964 0.00054025 0.00415092
TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Expression of related genes of ITNK cells relative to NK cells ENTREZ Basic log2 fold ID Marker value change lfcSE stat P value padj 3811 KIR3DL1 365.099198 −7.1254794 0.75146844 −9.482074 2.4928E−21 3.971E−18 3804 KIR2DL3 473.412488 −4.8525337 0.89072948 −5.4478198 5.0991E−08 2.9645E−06 3812 KIR3DL2 373.96061 −3.0917182 0.86143947 −3.5890139 0.00033193 0.00378501 3802 KIR2DL1 282.000446 −4.7696308 0.99147586 −4.8106373 1.5045E−06 5.0993E−05
EXAMPLE 5
Single-Cell Transcriptome Sequencing Analysis of ITNK Cells of the Present Application
[0104] Flow cytometry shows that CD8+CD3+NKp46+ ITNK cells and CD4+CD3+NKp30+ ITNK cells appeared on day 5 after BCL11B was knocked out (as shown in
[0105] About 5000 cells were detected and analyzed in all experimental groups. Different time-point groups of cell samples were detected by scRNA-seq, 2000 to 4000 genes per cell were detected, and a total of 20000 human genes were detected among all cells. In the t-distributed random neighbor-embedded (t-SNE) analysis of transcription profiles, the cells were projected into two dimensions, which provided a visual representation of the cell fate transition in the process of ITNK cell reprogramming. The results of the unbiased t-SEN analysis show that the cells from day 0 to day 20 after knockout could be clustered into 11 subsets (as shown in
EXAMPLE 6
Ability of ITNK Cells of the Present Application to Recognize and Kill MHCI-Positive/Negative Tumor Cells In Vitro
[0106] In order to determine whether the NK cell receptor (NCR) and T cell receptor (TCR) expressed on ITNK cells of the present application are functional, the ITNK cells were stimulated with anti-NKp30 monoclonal antibody, anti-NKp46 monoclonal antibody and anti-CD3/CD28 monoclonal antibody, respectively. It is found that the secretion of interferon (IFN) in ITNK cells increased after the ITNK cells were stimulated with anti-NKp30 antibody and anti-NKp46 antibody, while the secretion of IFN in T cells of the control group did not increase (as shown in
[0107] Similar to NK cells, ITNK cells of the present application could secrete a variety of cytokines, including GM-CSF, IFN, and TNF (as shown in
EXAMPLE 7
Ability of ITNK Cells of the Present Application to Inhibit Tumor Growth In Vivo
[0108] The inventors also evaluated whether the ITNK cells of the present application could inhibit the growth of xenograft tumors. Specifically, K562 cells labeled with luciferase were implanted into NSI mice to construct K562 tumor-bearing mouse models, and then ITNK cells, NK cells or T cells were injected in a single time (
EXAMPLE 8
In Vivo Safety Assessment of ITNK Cells of the Present Application
[0109] In order to verify the distribution and maintenance ability of ITNK cells in vivo, ITNK cells were transplanted into NSI-strain immunodeficient mice lacking T cells, B cells and NK cells, and the percentage of ITNK cells in peripheral blood (PB), spleen (SP), bone marrow (BM), liver, and lung was measured on day 1, day 7, day 14, day 21 and day 180 after transplantation (
[0110] In order to evaluate the possible off-target mutation induced by PX458-gBCL11B, T cells electroporated with PX458-gBCL11B were subjected to the whole genome sequencing of high coverage. Compared with wild-type T cells, it is found from two independent experiments that there were very few off-target mutations caused by nuclease in T cells edited by PX458-gBCL11B.
[0111] The applicant has stated that although the detailed method of the present application is described through the examples described above, the present application is not limited to the detailed method described above, which means that implementation of the present application does not necessarily depend on the detailed method described above. It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that any improvements made to the present application, equivalent replacements of raw materials of the product of the present application, additions of adjuvant ingredients to the product of the present application, and selections of specific manners, etc., all fall within the protection scope and the disclosed scope of the present application.