Specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in gene therapy

• Published in: Journal of molecular medicine (Berlin, Germany) Germany), 1997-04, Vol.75 (4), p.259-266
• Main Authors: ALTENSCHMIDT, U, MORITZ, D, GRONER, B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Antibodies; Antibodies, Neoplasm - genetics; Biological and medical sciences; Biotechnology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene therapy; Genetic Therapy - methods; Health. Pharmaceutical industry; Immunotherapy, Adoptive - methods; Industrial applications and implications. Economical aspects; Membrane Proteins - genetics; Mice; Neoplasms, Experimental - therapy; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell - genetics; Retrovirus; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic - immunology
• ISSN: 0946-2716; 1432-1440
• DOI: 10.1007/s001090050111

Cytotoxic T lymphocytes possess the capacity to lyse target cells which express antigens on their surface recognized by the T cell receptor. These cells are crucial in the body's defense against foreign antigens. It has long been a goal of tumor biology to utilize T cells specialized in the elimination of unwanted cells for the treatment of cancer. The killing activity of T lymphocytes is restricted to specific antigen-presenting cells. For this reason the use of cytotoxic T cells in the elimination of cancer cells is limited to cancer cells which present neoantigens on their surface. To circumvent this limitation we describe a procedure in which the zeta component of the T cell receptor is genetically manipulated and equipped with an extracellular recognition domain. Introduction of a chimeric gene, consisting of the zeta chain of the T cell receptor and a single-chain antibody domain, into cytotoxic T lymphocytes results in T cells with a predetermined recognition specificity for particular tumor cells. The MHC restriction of target cell recognition can be avoided and tumor cells recognized by the single chain antibody domain can be recognized and lysed. Retroviral-mediated gene transduction was used to introduce chimeric zeta chain constructs into primary T cells of mice. The cocultivation of retrovirus producing helper cells with in vitro activated T lymphocytes led to a high gene transduction efficiency into primary T cells. These primary T cells assumed a predetermined specificity for target cell recognition and lysis. The production and provision of tumor cell specific T lymphocytes might not be sufficient to eradicate large tumors in vivo. Using a Schwannoma cell line, we showed that transplanted tumors secrete transforming growth factor beta and thereby stifle the action of lymphocytes. We suggest that a coordinated strategy including the suppression of tumor cells specific antilymphocyte action and the provision of tumor cell specific T cells might be required to successfully eliminate tumor cells in vivo.