Abstract 3758: The efficacy of CD133 BiTEs and CAR-T cells in preclinical model of glioblastoma
Authors: Vora Parvez , Chokshi Chirayu , Qazi Maleeha , Singh Mohini , Venugopal Chitra , Mahendram Sujeivan , Adams Jarrett , Bakhshinyan David , London Max , Singh Jess , Subapanditha1 Minomi , McFarlane Nicole , Pan James , Bramson Jonathan , Sidhu Sachdev , Moffat Jason , Singh Sheila 
Published: July 2017

Glioblastoma (GBM) is a uniformly fatal primary brain tumor, characterized by a diverse cellular phenotype and genetic heterogeneity. Despite the use of multi-modal treatment including surgical resection, radiotherapy and chemotherapy, the outcome of patients with GBM remains poor. Numerous studies have implicated CD133+ brain tumor initiating cells (BTICs) as drivers of chemo- and radio-resistance in GBM. We recently demonstrated that a CD133-driven gene signature is predictive of poor overall survival and targeting CD133+ treatment-refractory cells may be an effective strategy to block GBM recurrence.

Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) and bispecific T-Cell engaging antibodies (BiTEs) present promising immunotherapeutic approaches that have not yet been validated for recurrent GBM. Using CellectSeq, a novel methodology that combines use of phage-displayed synthetic antibody libraries and DNA sequencing, we developed the CD133-specific monoclonal antibody ‘RW03’. We constructed CD133-specific BiTEs that consist of two arms; one arm recognizes the tumor antigen (CD133) while the second is specific to CD3 antigen. The dual binding specificity was confirmed using flow cytometry. Using CD133high and CD133low primary GBM lines, we validated the binding of BiTEs to CD133+ cells. Further analysis showed binding of BiTEs to human T cells known to express CD3 within a population of healthy donor peripheral blood mononuclear cells. We observed BiTEs redirecting T cells to kill GBMs, with greater efficiency observed in CD133high GBMs, validating BiTE target specificity. Incubating T-cells with BiTEs and the CD133high GBMs resulted in increased expression of T cell activation markers. In parallel, we derived the single chain variable fragment (scFv) from previously generated RW03 and generated a second-generation CAR. Anti-CD133 scFv with a myc tag was cloned in frame with a human CD8 leader sequence, CD8a transmembrane domain, CD28, and hCD3ζ signaling tail in the lentiviral construct pCCL-ΔNGFR. Following lentiviral packaging, the T cells isolated from PBMCs were transduced with CD133 CAR construct. After successful T cell engineering, the expression of ΔNGFR and myc tag was analyzed using flow cytometry to confirm the efficiency of transduction and surface expression of anti-CD133 respectively. CD133-specific CAR-T cells were cytotoxic to CD133+ GBMs. Co-culturing CD133 CAR-T cells with GBMs triggered T cell activation and proliferation. Treatment of GBM tumor-bearing mice with CD133-specific CAR-T cells yielded extended survival in mice and significant reductions in brain tumor burden.

The results of this study will establish a translational research program that will form the basis of early phase clinical trials of a promising CD133-based therapeutic strategy for patients with GBM.

Citation Format: Parvez Vora, Chirayu Chokshi, Maleeha Qazi, Mohini Singh, Chitra Venugopal, Sujeivan Mahendram, Jarrett Adams, David Bakhshinyan, Max London, Jess Singh, Minomi Subapanditha1,, Nicole McFarlane, James Pan, Jonathan Bramson, Sachdev Sidhu, Jason Moffat, Sheila Singh. The efficacy of CD133 BiTEs and CAR-T cells in preclinical model of glioblastoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3758. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-3758