RESUMEN
Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) represent a heterogeneous group of hematological clonal disorders. Here, we have tested the bone marrow (BM) cells from 38 MDS patients covering all risk groups in two immunodeficient mouse models: NSG and NSG-S. Our data show comparable level of engraftment in both models. The level of engraftment was patient specific with no correlation to any specific MDS risk group. Furthermore, the co-injection of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) did not improve the level of engraftment. Finally, we have developed an in vitro two-dimensional co-culture system as an alternative tool to in vivo. Using our in vitro system, we have been able to co-culture CD34+ cells from MDS patient BM on auto- and/or allogeneic MSCs over 4 weeks with a fold expansion of up to 600 times. More importantly, these expanded cells conserved their MDS clonal architecture as well as genomic integrity.
Asunto(s)
Células de la Médula Ósea/patología , Síndromes Mielodisplásicos/patología , Animales , Biomarcadores , Trasplante de Médula Ósea , Aberraciones Cromosómicas , Modelos Animales de Enfermedad , Femenino , Expresión Génica , Genes Reporteros , Xenoinjertos , Humanos , Inmunofenotipificación , Masculino , Células Madre Mesenquimatosas , Ratones , Ratones Noqueados , Síndromes Mielodisplásicos/diagnóstico , Síndromes Mielodisplásicos/genética , Síndromes Mielodisplásicos/metabolismoRESUMEN
As significant numbers of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients are still refractory to conventional therapies or experience relapse, immunotherapy using T cells expressing chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) might represent a valid treatment option. AML cells frequently overexpress the myeloid antigens CD33 and CD123, for which specific CARs can be generated. However, CD33 is also expressed on normal hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs), and its targeting could potentially impair normal hematopoiesis. In contrast, CD123 is widely expressed by AML, while low expression is detected on HSPCs, making it a much more attractive target. In this study we describe the in vivo efficacy and safety of using cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells genetically modified to express anti-CD33 or anti-CD123 CAR to target AML. We show that both these modified T cells are very efficient in reducing leukemia burden in vivo, but only the anti-CD123 CAR has limited killing on normal HSPCs, thus making it a very attractive immunotherapeutic tool for AML treatment.