Chimeric antigen receptors for T-cell based therapy.

The Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) consists of an antibody-derived targeting domain fused with T-cell signaling domains that, when expressed by a T-cell, endows the T-cell with antigen specificity determined by the targeting domain of the CAR. CARs can potentially redirect the effector functions of a T-cell towards any protein and nonprotein target expressed on the cell surface as long as an antibody or similar targeting domain is available. This strategy thereby avoids the requirement of antigen processing and presentation by the target cell and is applicable to nonclassical T-cell targets like carbohydrates. This circumvention of HLA-restriction means that the CAR T-cell approach can be used as a generic tool broadening the potential of applicability of adoptive T-cell therapy. Proof-of-principle studies focusing upon the investigation of the potency of CAR T-cells have primarily focused upon the genetic modification of human and mouse T-cells for therapy. This chapter focuses upon methods to modify T-cells from both species to generate CAR T-cells for functional testing.

Gene delivery of a mutant TGFß3 reduces markers of scar tissue formation after cutaneous wounding.

The transforming growth factor-ß (TGFß) family plays a critical regulatory role in repair and coordination of remodeling after cutaneous wounding. TGFß1-mediated chemotaxis promotes the recruitment of fibroblasts to the wound site and their resultant myofibroblastic transdifferentiation that is responsible for elastic fiber deposition and wound closure. TGFß3 has been implicated in an antagonistic role regulating overt wound closure and promoting ordered dermal remodeling. We generated a mutant form of TGFß3 (mutTGFß3) by ablating its binding site for the latency-associated TGFß binding protein (LTBP-1) in order to improve bioavailability and activity. The mutated cytokine is secreted as the stable latency-associated peptide (LAP)-associated form and is activated by normal intracellular and extracellular mechanisms including integrin-mediated activation but is not sequestered. We show localized intradermal transduction using a lentiviral vector expressing the mutTGFß3 in a mouse skin wounding model reduced re-epithelialization density and fibroblast/myofibroblast transdifferentiation within the wound area, both indicative of reduced scar tissue formation.