Enhancing antitumor response by efficiently generating large-scale TCR-T cells targeting a single epitope across multiple cancer antigens.

The need to contrive interventions to curb the rise in cancer incidence and mortality is critical for improving patients' prognoses. Adoptive cell therapy is challenged with quality large-scale production, heightening its production cost. Several cancer types have been associated with the expression of highly-immunogenic CTAG1 and CTAG2 antigens, which share common epitopes. Targeting two antigens on the same cancer could improve the antitumor response of TCR-T cells. In this study, we exploited an efficient way to generate large-fold quality TCR-T cells and also demonstrated that the common epitopes of CTAG1 and CTAG2 antigens provide an avenue for improved cancer-killing via dual-antigen-epitope targeting. Our study revealed that xeno/sera-free medium could expand TCR-T cells to over 500-fold, posing as a better replacement for FBS-supplemented media. Human AB serum was also shown to be a good alternative in the absence of xeno/sera-free media. Furthermore, TCR-T cells stimulated with beads-coated T-activator showed a better effector function than soluble T-activator stimulated TCR-T cells. Additionally, TCR-T cells that target multiple antigens in the same cancer yield better anticancer activity than those targeting a single antigen. This showed that targeting multiple antigens with a common epitope may enhance the antitumor response efficacy of T cell therapies.

STING agonist diABZI enhances the cytotoxicity of T cell towards cancer cells.

Antigen-specific T cell receptor-engineered T cell (TCR-T) based immunotherapy has proven to be an effective method to combat cancer. In recent years, cross-talk between the innate and adaptive immune systems may be requisite to optimize sustained antigen-specific immunity, and the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) is a promising therapeutic target for cancer immunotherapy. The level of expression or presentation of antigen in tumor cells affects the recognition and killing of tumor cells by TCR-T. This study aimed at investigating the potential of innate immune stimulation of T cells and engineered T cells to enhance immunotherapy for low-expression antigen cancer cells. We systematically investigated the function and mechanism of cross-talk between STING agonist diABZI and adaptive immune systems. We established NY-ESO-1 full knockout Mel526 cells for this research and found that diABZI activated STING media and TCR signaling pathways. In addition, the results of flow cytometry showed that antigens presentation from cancer cells induced by STING agonist diABZI also improved the affinity of TCR-T cells function against tumor cells in vitro and in vivo. Our findings revealed that diABZI enhanced the immunotherapy efficacy of TCR-T by activating STING media and TCR signaling pathways, improving interferon-γ expression, and increasing antigens presentation of tumor cells. This indicates that STING agonist could be used as a strategy to promote TCR-T cancer immunotherapy.

NY-ESO-1-specific T cell receptor-engineered T cells and Tranilast, a TRPV2 antagonist bivalent treatment enhances the killing of esophageal cancer: a dual-targeted cancer therapeutic route.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal cancer (EC) is a global canker notorious for causing high mortality due to its relentless incidence rate, convoluted with unyielding recurrence and metastasis. However, these intricacies of EC are associated with an immoderate expression of NY-ESO-1 antigen, presenting a lifeline for adoptive T cell therapy. We hypothesized that naturally isolated higher-affinity T cell receptors (TCRs) that bind to NY-ESO-1 would allow T lymphocytes to target EC with a pronounced antitumor response efficacy. Also, targeting TRPV2, which is associated with tumorigenesis in EC, creates an avenue for dual-targeted therapy. We exploited the dual-targeting antitumor efficacy against EC. METHODS: We isolated antigen-specific TCRs (asTCRs) from a naive library constructed with TCRs obtained from enriched cytotoxic T lymphocytes. The robustness of our asTCRs and their TCR-T cell derivatives, Tranilast (TRPV2 inhibitor), and their bivalent treatment were evaluated with prospective cross-reactive human-peptide variants and tumor cells. RESULTS: Our study demonstrated that our naive unenhanced asTCRs and their TCR-Ts perpetuated their cognate HLA-A*02:01/NY-ESO-1(157-165) specificity, killing varying EC cells with higher cytotoxicity compared to the known affinity-enhanced TCR (TCRe) and its wild-type (TCR0) which targets the same NY-ESO-1 antigen. Furthermore, the TCR-Ts and Tranilast bivalent treatment showed superior EC killing compared to any of their monovalent treatments of either TCR-T or Tranilast. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that dual-targeted immunotherapy may have a superior antitumor effect. Our study presents a technique to evolve novel, robust, timely therapeutic strategies and interventions for EC and other malignancies.

HIF-1α promotes kidney organoid vascularization and applications in disease modeling.

BACKGROUND: Kidney organoids derived from human pluripotent stem cells (HiPSCs) hold huge applications for drug screening, disease modeling, and cell transplanting therapy. However, these applications are limited since kidney organoid cannot maintain complete morphology and function like human kidney. Kidney organoids are not well differentiated since the core of the organoid lacked oxygen, nutrition, and vasculature, which creates essential niches. Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 α (HIF-1α) serves as a critical regulator in vascularization and cell survival under hypoxia environment. Less is known about the role of HIF-1α in kidney organoids in this regard. This study tried to investigate the effect of HIF-1α in kidney organoid vascularization and related disease modeling. METHODS: For the vascularization study, kidney organoids were generated from human induced pluripotent stem cells. We overexpressed HIF-1α via plasmid transfection or treated DMOG (Dimethyloxallyl Glycine, an agent for HIF-1α stabilization and accumulation) in kidney progenitor cells to detect the endothelium. For the disease modeling study, we treated kidney organoid with cisplatin under hypoxia environment, with additional HIF-1α transfection. RESULT: HIF-1α overexpression elicited kidney organoid vascularization. The endothelial cells and angiotool analysis parameters were increased in HIF-1α plasmid-transfected and DMOG-treated organoids. These angiogenesis processes were partially blocked by VEGFR inhibitors, semaxanib or axitinib. Cisplatin-induced kidney injury (Cleaved caspase 3) was protected by HIF-1α through the upregulation of CD31 and SOD2. CONCLUSION: We demonstrated that HIF-1α elicited the process of kidney organoid vascularization and protected against cisplatin-induced kidney organoid injury in hypoxia environment.

A Rationally Designed CRISPR/Cas12a Assay Using a Multimodal Reporter for Various Readouts.

The CRISPR/Cas systems offer a programmable platform for nucleic acid detection, and CRISPR/Cas-based diagnostics (CRISPR-Dx) have demonstrated the ability to target nucleic acids with greater accuracy and flexibility. However, due to the configuration of the reporter and the underlying labeling mechanism, almost all reported CRISPR-Dx rely on a single-option readout, resulting in limitations in end-point result readouts. This is also associated with high reagent consumption and delays in diagnostic reports due to protocol differences. Herein, we report for the first time a rationally designed Cas12a-based multimodal universal reporter (CAMURE) with improved sensitivity that harnesses a dual-mode reporting system, facilitating options in end-point readouts. Through systematic configurations and optimizations, our novel universal reporter achieved a 10-fold sensitivity enhancement compared to the DETECTR reporter. Our unique and versatile reporter could be paired with various readouts, conveying the same diagnostic results. We applied our novel reporter for the detection of staphylococcal enterotoxin A due to its high implication in staphylococcal food poisoning. Integrated with loop-mediated isothermal amplification, our multimodal reporter achieved 10 CFU/mL sensitivity and excellent specificity using a real-time fluorimeter, in-tube fluorescence, and lateral flow strip readouts. We also propose, using artificially contaminated milk samples, a fast (2-5 min) Triton X-100 DNA extraction approach with a comparable yield to the commercial extraction kit. Our CAMURE could be leveraged to detect all gene-encoding SEs by simply reprogramming the guide RNA and could also be applied to the detection of other infections and disease biomarkers.

Large-scale expansion of human umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells using PLGA@PLL scaffold.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are highly important in biomedicine and hold great potential in clinical treatment for various diseases. In recent years, the capabilities of MSCs have been under extensive investigation for practical application. Regarding therapy, the efficacy usually depends on the amount of MSCs. Nevertheless, the yield of MSCs is still limited due to the traditional cultural methods. Herein, we proposed a three-dimensional (3D) scaffold prepared using poly lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nanofiber with polylysine (PLL) grafting, to promote the growth and proliferation of MSCs derived from the human umbilical cord (hUC-MSCs). We found that the inoculated hUC-MSCs adhered efficiently to the PLGA scaffold with good affinity, fast growth rate, and good multipotency. The harvested cells were ideally distributed on the scaffold and we were able to gain a larger yield than the traditional culturing methods under the same condition. Thus, our cell seeding with a 3D scaffold could serve as a promising strategy for cell proliferation in the large-scale production of MSCs. Moreover, the simplicity and low preparation cost allow this 3D scaffold to extend its potential application beyond cell culture. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40643-023-00635-6.

Harnessing enhanced CRISPR/Cas12a trans-cleavage activity with extended reporters and reductants for early diagnosis of Helicobacter pylori, the causative agent of peptic ulcers and stomach cancer.

Developing rapid and non-invasive diagnostics for Helicobacter pylori (HP) is imperative to prevent associated diseases such as stomach gastritis, ulcers, and cancers. Owing to HP strain heterogeneity, not all HP-infected individuals incur side effects. Cytotoxin-associated gene A (CagA), and vacuolating cytotoxin A (VacA) genes predominantly drive HP pathogenicity. Therefore, diagnosing CagA and VacA genotypes could alert active infection and decide suitable therapeutics. We report an enhanced LbCas12a trans-cleavage activity with extended reporters and reductants (CEXTRAR) for early detection of HP. We demonstrate that extended ssDNA reporter acts as an excellent signal amplifier, making it a potential alternative substrate for LbCas12a collateral activity. Through a systematic investigation of various buffer components, we demonstrate that reductants improve LbCas12a trans-cleavage activity. Overall, our novel reporter and optimal buffer increased the trans-cleavage activity to an order of 16-fold, achieving picomolar sensitivity (171 pM) without target pre-amplification. Integrated with loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), CEXTRAR successfully attained attomolar sensitivity for HP detection using real-time fluorescence (43 and 96 aM), in-tube fluorescence readouts (430 and 960 aM), and lateral flow (4.3 and 9.6 aM) for CagA and VacA, respectively. We also demonstrate a rapid 2-min Triton X-100 lysis for clinical sample analysis, which could provide clinicians with actionable information for rapid diagnosis. CEXTRAR could potentially spot the 13C urea breath test false-negatives. For the first time, our study unveils an experimental outlook to manipulate reporters and reconsider precise cysteine substitution via protein engineering for Cas variants with enhanced catalytic activities for use in diagnostics and genetic engineering.

Insight Into Novel Anti-tuberculosis Vaccines by Using Immunoinformatics Approaches.

Tuberculosis (TB), an infectious disease, has been a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for decades. The causative agent of TB is the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) which can infects various parts of the body, mainly the lungs in pulmonary TB cases. Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is the only approved vaccine for TB, but its efficiency to combat pulmonary TB is limited. Multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB and extensive drug-resistant (XDR) TB requires the evolution of more potent vaccines. Therefore, this research aims to generate a universal TB subunit vaccine using advanced immunoinformatics techniques. In generating a novel multiepitope subunit vaccine, we selected the conserved and experimentally confirmed antigens Rv0058, Rv0101, and Rv3343. After a rigorous evaluation, the top candidates from predicted Helper T-lymphocytes (HTL), Cytotoxic T-lymphocytes (CTL), and B-cell epitopes were considered potential vaccine candidates. Immunogenicity was enhanced by the addition of an adjuvant to the ultimate construct of the vaccine. B-cell epitopes predictions guaranteed the eventual induction of a humoral response. Thereafter, dynamics simulations and molecular docking validated the vaccine-receptor complex's stability and high affinity for the immune receptor TLR-3. Also, immune simulations revealed the significantly elevated levels of immunoglobulins such as IgM, cytokines such as interleukin-2, helper T (Th) cells, and cytotoxic T-cell populations. These results agreed with the actual inflammatory response and showed rapid antigen clearance after manifold exposure. Finally, the E. coli K12 strain was confirmed via in-silico cloning for quality expression. Nevertheless, in vivo experiments should be performed to validate the safety of the proposed vaccine and its inherent ability to prevent TB infection.

Guillain-Barre syndrome: An autoimmune disorder post-COVID-19 vaccination?

SARS-CoV-2 causes Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), an infectious condition that can present none or one or more of these symptoms: fever, cough, headache, sore throat, loss of taste and smell, aches, fatigue and musculoskeletal pain. For the prevention of COVID-19, there are vaccines available including those developed by Pfizer, Moderna, Sinovac, Janssen, and AstraZeneca. Recent evidence has shown that some COVID-19-vaccinated individuals can occasionally develop as a potential side effect Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS), a severe neurological autoimmune condition in which the immune response against the peripheral nerve system (PNS) can result in significant morbidity. GBS had been linked previously to several viral or bacterial infections, and the finding of GBS after vaccination with certain COVID-19, while rare, should alert medical practitioners for an early diagnosis and targeted treatment. Here we review five cases of GBS that developed in different countries after COVID-19 vaccination.