Abstract 2851: Moving on: Embracing γδ T-cell biology to create truly next generation immunotherapy concepts
Authors: Kumaran Jyothi , Karattil Rajeev , Simoes André , Alade Rebecca , Patel Mihil , Wood Liz , Vico Gonzalo Mercado , Lane Amy , Tamagno Sara , Edwards Sarah , Venuso Andrea , Illingworth Sam , Brown Alice , Koslowski Michael , Kovacs Istvan , Nussbaumer Oliver 
Published: June 2022

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) modification of αβ T cells has revolutionized the field of oncology, driving the focus of attention to the immune system to target and fight malignancies. Currently available αβ T-cell therapies come with many challenges, including alloreactivity, off-target toxicities, cytokine release syndrome, limited survival of infused cells and the necessity to gene edit cells to overcome graft vs. host disease. Whilst some of these limitations can be overcome with complex and costly gene-engineering approaches, utilizing innate immune cells which are inherently non-HMC restricted and able to orchestrate wider immune responses might provide an alternative strategy avoiding many of these obstacles. Many groups developed protocols to grow and modify natural killer cells and invariant natural killer T-cells whilst others, including ours, focused on the development of Vδ1 γδ T-cell-based immunotherapies. Currently, these cell types are evaluated in the clinic in both non-engineered and engineered versions. Most of these engineering principles have been directly translated from the αβ CAR-T field without taking into consideration the biology of innate immune cells: they utilize αβ T-cell specific co-stimulatory molecules and signaling cassettes as well as armoring strategies developed for αβ T-cells. Vδ1 T-cells are tissue resident lymphocytes, which for most of their lifetime remain in epithelia rich tissues. They consistently survey tissues and monitor malignant transformation using a variety of natural cytotoxicity receptors, NK like receptors and the γδ TCR. In contrast to αβ T-cells, Vδ1 T-cells do not follow the ‘two-signal theory’: they must integrate multiple signals from an array of receptors in order to discriminate between healthy and malignant cells. We thus propose that CAR strategies exclusively utilizing CD3ζ activation domains are not using the full potential of innate immune cells for cellular immunotherapy. Another distinguishing feature of Vδ1 T-cells is the absence of traditional autocrine cytokine feedback loops seen in αβ T-cells. Our results demonstrate that traditional cytokine armoring strategies utilizing forced secretion of soluble or membrane-tethered IL-15 are detrimental to the biology of Vδ1 T-cells. By dissecting the IL-15 receptor biology we are now able to create cells that not only survive and grow in the absence of exogenous IL-15 but become more sensitive to endogenous levels. Applying γδ T-cell biology and an adapted understanding of the IL-15 pathway, we have now created novel engineering strategies to tailor specificity, potency, and proliferation of Vδ1 T-cells even in the presence of CAR whilst maintaining the cells’ inherent ability to discriminate between healthy and malignant cells.

Preclinical evaluation of these concepts is ongoing with the aim to develop next generation tailored Vδ1T-cell immunotherapies.

Citation Format: Jyothi Kumaran, Rajeev Karattil, André Simoes, Rebecca Alade, Mihil Patel, Liz Wood, Gonzalo Mercado Vico, Amy Lane, Sara Tamagno, Sarah Edwards, Andrea Venuso, Sam Illingworth, Alice Brown, Michael Koslowski, Istvan Kovacs, Oliver Nussbaumer. Moving on: Embracing γδ T-cell biology to create truly next generation immunotherapy concepts [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 2851.