Immune Reconstitution after Adoptive Infusion of BPX501 Cells (donor T cells transduced with iC9 suicide gene) in Children Given Alpha/Beta T-Cell Depleted HLA-Haploidentical Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (haplo-HSCT): Preliminary Phenotypic and Functional Results of a Phase I-II Trial
Authors: Merli Pietro , Li Pira Giuseppina , Bertaina Valentina , Sinibaldi Matilde , Lucarelli Barbarella , Brescia Letizia Pomponia , Palumbo Giuseppe , Milano Giuseppe Maria , Romano Maria Teresa , Cirillo Valentina , Strocchio Luisa , Airoldi Irma , Vinti Luciana , Quintarelli Concetta , Moretta Lorenzo , Moseley Annemarie , Bertaina Alice , Locatelli Franco 
Published: October 2019

Background: Immune recovery is crucial for patients treated with allogeneic HSCT and in particular of those receiving a T-cell depleted haplo-HSCT. We recently developed a novel method of graft manipulation based on physical elimination of α/β T cells and B-lymphocytes for preventing graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) and EBV-related lymphoproliferative disorders, respectively. Thanks to this approach, we successfully conducted a prospective trial in children with malignant or non-malignant disorders (ClinicalTrial.gov identifier: NCT01810120). Although patients enrolled in this trial had faster immune recovery and lower incidence of infections than those given haplo-HSCT after infusion of positively selected CD34+ cells, reconstitution of adaptive T-cell immunity remains suboptimal. We therefore designed a phase I/II trial aimed at testing the effect on post-transplant immune recovery of adoptive infusion (within 14 + 4 days after transplantation) of BPX-501 cells in children given haplo-HSCT after depletion of α/β T and B cells (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02065869).

Patients and methods: As of July 25th 2015, 23 children have been infused with BPX-501 cells. The 9 children included in the phase I portion of the study were given 2.5x105, 5x105, and 1x106 BPX-501 cells/kg, respectively, while the 14 included in the phase II received 1x106 BPX-501 cells/kg. This analysis refers to the 16 patients with a minimum follow-up of 90 days; 7 children had acute leukemia and 9 non-malignant disorders. Basic phenotype of circulating lymphocytes was assessed by flow cytometry on fresh heparinized peripheral blood samples at 10, 20, 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days post haplo-HSCT, respectively. The following antibodies were used: anti-TCRαβ FITC/anti-TCRγδ PE/anti-CD3 PerCP-Cy™5.5 (WT31, 11F2, SK7), anti-CD4 APC Cy7 (RPA-T4), anti-CD19 BV 510 (SJ25C1), anti-CD3 BV 421 (UCHT1), anti-CD56 PeCy7 (B159), anti-CD16 APC (B73.1), anti-CD8 APC (RPA-T8) from BD Biosciences (San Diego, CA, USA). Antigen-driven activation of peripheral mononuclear cells was evaluated by standard lymphoproliferation assay (LPA) with 3H-thymidine pulsing on day 4 and harvesting 18 hours later. Antigens included PHA or CMV, EBV and AdV whole viral lysate. Results were scored positive with stimulation indexes (SI) >10 for PHA and >3 for viral antigens.

Results: None of the patients died from transplant-related complications. Chimerism analysis investigated through short tandem repeats showed that in all but 4 patients, cells were of donor origin before the infusion of BPX-501 cells. In the 4 patients, there was a reversion to complete donor chimerism after infusion of BPX-501 cells. At early time points after haplo-HSCT, gδ T cells predominated over αβ T lymphocytes; subsequently, this latter population became the more largely represented. The number of both CD3+ T lymphocytes and of BPX-501 cells is shown in Panel A of Figure 1, reconstitution of whole T cells in historical children given haplo-HSCT after depletion of α/β T cells is also shown. The number of CD3+ T lymphocytes reached greater than 0.5x109/L 2 months after infusion of BPX-501 cells. Remarkably, while usually immune recovery after transplantation is characterized by prevalence of CD8+ cells, in our patients the physiological predominance of CD4+ lymphocytes was maintained (Panel B of Figure 1. Reconstitution of natural killer cells (NK) is shown in Panel C of Figure 1. As compared to patients receiving CD34+ selected cell haplo-HSCT, children included in this study had a faster reconstitution of mature KIR+/NKG2A- NK cells. Serum levels of IgA and IgM over time are shown in Panel D of Figure 1: there was a recovery of newly synthetized Ig at 3 months. The analysis of the function of T cells showed that the proliferative response to a polyclonal mitogen or to CMV lysate was comparable to that of a healthy control in 50% of patients as early as day + 60 after haplo-HSCT and BPX-501; on day +150, all patients reached a normal SI. Response to both EBV and AdV antigens was slightly delayed, but progressively improved over time (see also Figure 2).

Conclusions: Overall, these data indicate that infusion of BPX-501 cells is able to accelerate the recovery of adaptive T-cell immunity since these cells, once infused, expand in vivo and persist over time, potentially contributing to protect patients from infections.

Figure 1. Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 2.

Disclosures

Moseley: Bellicum Pharmaceuticals: Employment, Equity Ownership.