Abstract 2218: High affinity and cleavage resistant CD16 enhances Trastuzumab mediated killing of gastric cancer targets by human placental CD34+-derived natural killer cells
Authors: Raitman Irene , Rotondo Salvatore , Mahlakõiv Tanel , Guo Xuan , DiFiglia Andrea , Rana Hemlata , Ye Qian , Somanchi Srinivas , van der Touw William , Kang Lin , Hariri Robert , Zhang Xiaokui 
Published: September 2020

Introduction: When targeting tumors with monoclonal antibodies, natural killer (NK) cells are key effectors of antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) following recognition of antibody Fc by CD16. Celularity has developed a novel proprietary technology platform that enables production of an allogeneic, off-the-shelf, placental CD34+-derived NK cell therapy for the treatment of hematologic and solid tumor malignancies. Here we report the genetic modification of CD16 in NK cells for high binding affinity to IgG and resistance to protease cleavage, together with functional evaluation of anti-tumor ADCC activity against epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive gastric cancer cells in combination with Trastuzumab (anti-Her2).

Methods: Human placental CD34+ cells were transduced with lentivirus expressing a high binding affinity (158Val) and protease resistant (197Pro) CD16 variant (CD16VP) and cultured for 35 days in the presence of cytokines, including thrombopoietin, SCF, Flt3 ligand, IL-7, IL-15 and IL-2, to generate CD16VP cells. The tumorigenic activity of CD16VP cells against HER2-positive gastric cancer cell lines NCI-N87 and OE19 was assessed in combination with Trastuzumab. ADCC activity was measured by real-time xCELLigence, and cytokine secretion by Luminex. The kinase inhibitors PD98059 (MEK/ERK), SB203580 (p38 MAPK), SP600125 (JNK), and Wortmannin (PI3K) were used to study the molecular mechanisms underlying cytotoxicity of CD16VP cells against gastric cancer.

Results and conclusion: High transduction efficiency was achieved in multiple placental CD34+ donors with an average of 64.6 ± 10.3% (n=8) CD16 expression on NK cells compared to 12.1 ± 3.3% (n=8) on non-transduced cells. These cells expanded [7095 ± 2998-fold (n=8)] and differentiated into NK cells with &gt;90% purity (CD56+CD3-). While treatment of PMA/ionomycin for 4 hours resulted in &gt;89% CD16 cleavage on non-transduced cells, &lt;11% cleavage was observed on CD16VP cells, demonstrating shedding resistance. CD16VP cells in the presence of Trastuzumab compared to IgG control, showed enhanced lysis of NCI-N87 and OE19 targets (97 ± 7% and 95 ± 2% vs. 55 ± 19% and 42 ± 14% respectively, p&lt;0.01), secreted higher levels of GM-CSF, IFN-γ, and TNF-α, and demonstrated increased degranulation against OE19. The ADCC mediated cytotoxicity and degranulation were PI3K and JNK pathway-dependent as Wortmannin decreased ADCC by 82.2 ± 17.7% and degranulation by 43.9 ± 1.9%, and SP600125 decreased degranulation by 72.3 ± 1.2%. Our results demonstrate that CD16VP cells have enhanced Trastuzumab-mediated ADCC activity against gastric cancer tumor cell lines with resistance to CD16 cleavage. Development of CD16VP cells provides a combination therapeutic option by harnessing the anti-tumor activities of both targeted biologics and innate cytotoxicity of NK cells.

Citation Format: Irene Raitman, Salvatore Rotondo, Tanel Mahlakõiv, Xuan Guo, Andrea DiFiglia, Hemlata Rana, Qian Ye, Srinivas Somanchi, William van der Touw, Lin Kang, Robert Hariri, Xiaokui Zhang. High affinity and cleavage resistant CD16 enhances Trastuzumab mediated killing of gastric cancer targets by human placental CD34+-derived natural killer cells [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2218.