Patent Application: US-95944007-A

Abstract:
disclosed are cells , methods of modulating cells , and therapeutic uses of the cells for the immune modulation of mammals in need thereof . immune modulation including alteration of cytokine profile , cytotoxic activity , antibody production and inflammatory states is achieved through the administration of various cell types that have been unmanipulated or manipulated in order to endow specific biological activity . cellular subsets and administration of the subsets in combination with various agents are also provided . one embodiment teaches the previously unknown finding that adipose tissue derived mononuclear cells contain t cells with immune regulatory properties that alone or synergistically with various stem cells induce immune modulation upon administration . another embodiment is the finding that stimulation of stem cell activation results in stem cell secondary activation of immune modulatory cells , one type which is t regulatory cells . one specific embodiment involves extraction of a heterogenous stem cell pool , which contains t regulatory cells , treatment in culture of the population with agents known to stimulate stem cell activation , then subsequent extraction and administration of the purified tregs . other embodiments include expansion of tregs in the presence of antigen in order to generate anti - specific tregs .

Description:
the current invention teaches that treg cells can be endowed with enhanced functional immune suppressive activity , as well as in some cases be induced to proliferate through coculture with stem cells . one of the principle teachings of the current invention is that treg cells serve as a “ negative feedback regulator ” to stem cell proliferation . accordingly , activation of stem cell proliferation induces expression of various signals on the stem cells , the signals serving to activate treg cells to inhibit the stem cells . the invention capitalizes on the fact that tregs can be copurified with stem cells , and the tregs possess higher suppressive activity as compared to tregs from peripheral blood . furthermore , the invention takes advantage of the fact that stem cell activation by cytokines induces enhanced treg activity that not only inhibits the stem cell , but inhibits other immunological cells . accordingly , one aspect of the invention is the activation of stem cells so as to cause enhanced treg activity , the treg activity being therapeutically useful for treatment of diseases that are known to benefit from the enhanced treg activity . in one aspect stem cells are derived from autologous sources such as bone marrow , adipose tissue , or peripheral blood . stem cells are either co - purified with endogenous tregs or tregs are added to the stem cells in vitro . in a specific aspect , the stem cell / treg mixture is administered without manipulation into a patient suffering from a disorder associated with immune abnormality , such as an autoimmune disorder . stem cell / treg mixtures are administered at sufficient frequency to induce amelioration or substantial cure of the disorder . in another aspect of the invention , stem cells are endowed a phenotype that is conducive for treg activation and / or expansion . the phenotype may be endowed through activation of stem cells to proliferate and / or differentiate . specifically , stem cells may be activated with cytokines , growth factors , culture on various extracellular matrices , or culture under conditions known to activate stem cells such as hypoxia . the stem cells may initially isolated , activated , and subsequently cultured with tregs , or conversely the stem cells may be activated while cocultured with tregs . in some aspects , stem cells are cultured with cells that do not have the treg phenotype , for example , expression of foxp3 , but subsequent to culture , the cells acquire treg phenotype . in a particular aspect of the invention , adipose tissue derived mononuclear cells are isolated and administered into a patient with an immunological disorder so as to cause amelioration or cure of such disorder . the cells may be administered directly after purification , or may be cultured in various conditions so as to enhance stem cell activation , and in turn enhance treg activation . in a particular aspect of the invention , bone marrow derived mononuclear cells are isolated and administered into a patient with an immunological disorder so as to cause amelioration or cure of such disorder . the cells may be administered directly after purification , or may be cultured in various conditions so as to enhance stem cell activation , and in turn enhance treg activation . in a particular aspect of the invention , cord blood derived mononuclear cells are isolated and administered into a patient with an immunological disorder so as to cause amelioration or cure of such disorder . the cells may be administered directly after purification , or may be cultured in various conditions so as to enhance stem cell activation , and in turn enhance treg activation . in another aspect , agents are added to the stem cell / treg populations so as to enhance treg activation in addition to the activation signals obtained from the stem cells . treg activation signals may be provided by various means such as culture with antibodies , chemical stimulators of treg function , and inhibitors of treg inhibition . in another aspect the stem cell / treg populations are cultured so as to allow for expansion of autologous treg cells . expansion of autologous treg cells residing in the adipose mononuclear cell fraction extracted from tissues known to contain stem cells is performed , according to the current invention , by activation of the stem cell compartment , which in turn , activates the treg activity . specific means of activation include co - culture with growth factors , cytokines , extracellular matrices , and various other conditions known in the art to induce stem cell proliferation . ways of assessing level of treg activity during culture including extracting aliquot samples from the culture and assessing ability of purified cd4 + cd25 + cells from the culture to suppress proliferation of cd4 + cd25 − cells . alternative means of assessing the suppressive activity could include quantification of foxp3 expression in the cells by means such as flow cytometry . in another aspect , stem cell / treg mixtures are administered into a patient , and the patient is treated with immune modulators so as to expand treg numbers and activities . in another aspect , stem cell / treg mixtures are cultured together with an antigen so as to induce selective expansion of antigen specific treg cells . in this aspect , the antigen may be an autoantigen , an epitope of an autoantigen , or a poly - epitope mixture . specifically , the autoantigen may be synthetically generated , for example as a peptide or recombinant protein , or may be a biological mixture extracted from the patient , such as gut luminal antigens extracted by endoscopic biopsy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease . in one aspect the invention provides the generation of an immune modulatory cell preparation with tolerogenic aspects , the preparation comprising of adipose derived mononuclear cells that have been cultured in vitro for a period of 1 - 5 days in the presence of an inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin ( mtor ). the cells are cultured for a sufficient time point and at a sufficient concentration of the mtor inhibitor so as to allow upregulation of suppressive properties of the cells . in another aspect , adipose derived mononuclear cells are extracted from a patient with an inflammatory condition , and culture of the mononuclear cells is performed so as to allow for expansion for tregs . the culture may include administration of plate bound anti - cd3 antibodies , il - 2 , tgf , and other factors known to selectively expand treg cells . addition of stem cell stimulators may be performed but is optional . subsequently , cells from the culture are extracted and assessed for immune suppressive potential . if desirable , antigen specific t cells may be generated by coculture with the antigen of interest . antigen specificity may subsequently be assessed using various means known in the art , such as suppression of antigen specific t cell proliferation , cytokine release , or cytotoxic function . in another aspect , tregs are generated , and / or expanded , and / or activity through various means by coculture with stem cells , and the treg cells are purified out of the culture and administered into a patient in need of therapy . in another aspect , treg generation from non - treg cells is mediated by culture of the non - treg cells with a stimulus of proliferation , such as anti - cd3 , while in order to compensate for absence of cd28 costimulation , a stem cell is added as a “ costimulator ” which provides a survival signal , so as to allow for the differentiation and survival of a non - treg cell into a treg . in another aspect , a population of dendritic cells with tolerogenic capabilities is expanded and cultured in combination with a treg population and a stem cell population so as to allow for activation , enhanced suppressive properties , and proliferation of the treg cell . in another aspect , a method of screening agents for ability to endow stem cells with treg generating capability is disclosed . the method of screening comprising of : b ) administration of the agent to be screened into the population of t cells and stem cells ; and in another aspect , a method of screening agents for ability to endow stem cells with treg generating capability is disclosed . the method of screening comprising of : b ) culturing the stem cell population with the agent being screened ; and c ) assessing expression of notch ligands on the stem cells harvested from the culture . various notch ligands are known in the art . one particular one useful for the practice of the current invention is jagged2 . expression of jagged2 may be determined by immunological or molecular means . in another aspect of the invention , treg cells are purified from a mononuclear preparation of a tissue associated with stem cell anatomical niches and subsequently administered into a patient in need of therapy . the anatomical niches include bone marrow , cord blood , mobilized peripheral blood , and adipose tissue . in another aspect of the invention , stem cell / treg cultures are treated with an activator of the notch signaling pathway , or an inhibitor of an inhibitor of a notch signaling pathway . this may be performed alongside stem cell and / or treg stimulation . in one specific aspect , the stem cell / treg culture is treated with the dsl peptide cddyyygfgcnkfcrpr ( seq id no : 1 ) or analogues thereof . in one aspect of the invention , the use of unmanipulated adipose derived mononuclear cells for immune modulation is disclosed . it is known that adipose tissue contains numerous stem cell populations . for example , culture of adipose derived mononuclear cells in tgf - b is causes them to differentiate into chondrocytes [ 35 ]. the same is true for culture of these cells in bone morphogenic protein - 2 [ 36 ]. additionally , adipose tissue derived cells can differentiation into smooth muscle cells after treatment with sphingosylphosphorylcholine [ 37 ] or other agents [ 38 ]. various culture conditions , as well as in vivo experiments have demonstrate ability of adipose derived cells to differentiate into skeletal muscle , including in the animal model of muscular dystrophy ( mdx ) [ 39 , 40 ]. culture of these cells in hgf , bfgf and nicotinamide for 14 days can lead to generation of hepatic - like cells that express albumin and several other liver - specific genes in addition to attaining a cuboidal , hepatocyte - like appearance [ 41 ]. in fact , it is reported that adipose derived stem cells have a similar hepatogenic differentiation potential to bone marrow derived stem cells , but are able to be cultured in vitro for a longer period and possess a higher proliferation capacity , as well as are able to generate albumin in vivo [ 42 , 43 ]. like bone marrow cells , they also can be induced to differentiate into endothelium [ 44 ]. given the mentioned stem cell properties of adipose derived mononuclear cells , we see these as one of the preferred stem cell types for use in the context of the current invention . in one embodiment , the invention is used for generation of an autologous preparation of cells that contains immune modulatory properties and is useful for the treatment of inflammatory diseases such as autoimmunity . specifically , adipose tissue mononuclear cells are harvested from an autologous donor suffering from an autoimmune disease . harvesting techniques are well known in the art and starting material can be obtained with relative ease during standard liposuction procedures . in one specific embodiment , adipose tissue fragments are collected and digested with collagenase i at a final concentration of approximately 1 mg / ml ) in hanks buffered saline at 37 celsius for approximately 60 min with intermittent shaking . thereafter , the resulting suspensions are filtered using two layers of cotton gauze to remove debris and then centrifuged at 400 g for 10 min . other methods are known in the art for preparation of mononuclear cells from adipose tissue [ 45 , 46 ]. in this particular method , supernatants are discarded and pellets are resuspended in 160 mmol / l nh4cl at room temperature for 10 min to lyse the remaining red blood cells . cells are collected by centrifugation , resuspended in culture medium ( dmem - low glucose supplemented with 15 % autologous serum and 50 mg / ml of gentamicine ). in order to generate a treg population in a short amount of time , the cytokine g - csf is administered to the cell culture in vitro at a concentration of about 0 . 1 - 500 ng / ml g - csf . cells are subsequently cultured in tissue culture flasks in a humidified atmosphere at 37 celsius with 50 ml / l co2 for about 2h to 100 days . cells are continually provided fresh media . in some embodiments other growth factors may be added , for example , flt3l may be added at a concentration of about 0 . 1 - 500 ng / ml , il - 3 may be added at a concentration of about 0 . 1 - 700 ng / ml il - 3 , and gm - csf may be added at a concentration of about 0 . 1 - 500 ng / ml . treg activity may be measured by taking aliquots of cells from the culture and measuring their ability to inhibit mixed lymphocyte reaction and cytokine production as previously described by the inventor [ 13 ]. additional agents may be introduced into the culture to provide ideal conditions for treg expansion , these include inhibitors of nf - kb , and / or mtor , and / or p13 - kinase . the inhibitors may be one or several antibodies to cytokines selected from a group comprising of : tnf - alpha , tnf - beta , il - 1 , il - 6 , il8 , il12 , il15 , il17 , il - 18 , il21 , il23 , il27 , and ifn - gamma . inhibitors of mtor may include rapamycin , and inhibitors of pi3k may include wortmannin . cells are subsequently re - injected into the patient suffering from a disorder in need of immune modulation . medical conditions in which treatment with the invention disclosed may be useful include : thyroiditis , insulitis , multiple sclerosis , iridocyclitis , uveitis , orchitis , hepatitis , addison &# 39 ; s disease , myasthenia gravis , rheumatoid arthritis , lupus erythematosus , immune hyperreactivity , insulin dependent diabetes mellitus , anemia ( aplastic , hemolytic ), autoimmune hepatitis , skleritis , idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura , inflammatory bowel diseases ( crohn &# 39 ; s disease , ulcerative colitis ), juvenile arthritis , scleroderma and systemic sclerosis , sjogren &# 39 ; s syndrom , undifferentiated connective tissue syndrome , antiphospholipid syndrome , vasculitis ( polyarteritis nodosa , allergic granulomatosis and angiitis , wegner &# 39 ; s granulomatosis , kawasaki disease , hypersensitivity vasculitis , henoch - schoenlein purpura , behcet &# 39 ; s syndrome , takayasu arteritis , giant cell arteritis , thrombangiitis obliterans ), polymyalgia rheumatica , essentiell ( mixed ) cryoglobulinemia , psoriasis vulgaris and psoriatic arthritis , diffus fasciitis with or without eosinophilia , polymyositis and other idiopathic inflammatory myopathies , relapsing panniculitis , relapsing polychondritis , lymphomatoid granulomatosis , erythema nodosum , ankylosing spondylitis , reiter &# 39 ; s syndrome , inflammatory dermatitis , unwanted immune reactions and inflammation associated with arthritis , including rheumatoid arthritis , inflammation associated with hypersensitivity and allergic reactions , systemic lupus erythematosus , collagen diseases , inflammation associated with atherosclerosis , arteriosclerosis , atherosclerotic heart disease , reperfusion injury , cardiac arrest , myocardial infarction , vascular inflammatory disorders , respiratory distress syndrome or other cardiopulmonary diseases , inflammation associated with peptic ulcer , ulcerative colitis and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract , hepatic fibrosis , liver cirrhosis or other hepatic diseases , thyroiditis or other glandular diseases , glomerulonephritis or other renal and urologic diseases , otitis or other oto - rhino - laryngological diseases , dermatitis or other dermal diseases , periodontal diseases or other dental diseases , orchitis or epididimo - orchitis , infertility , orchidal trauma or other immune - related testicular diseases , placental dysfunction , placental insufficiency , habitual abortion , eclampsia , pre - eclampsia and other immune and / or inflammatory - related gynaecological diseases , posterior uveitis , intermediate uveitis , anterior uveitis , conjunctivitis , chorioretinitis , uveoretinitis , optic neuritis , intraocular inflammation , e . g . retinitis or cystoid macular oedema , sympathetic ophthalmia , scleritis , retinitis pigmentosa , immune and inflammatory components of degenerative fondus disease , inflammatory components of ocular trauma , ocular inflammation caused by infection , proliferative vitreo - retinopathies , acute ischaemic optic neuropathy , excessive scarring , e . g . following glaucoma filtration operation , immune and / or inflammation reaction against ocular implants and other immune and inflammatory - related ophthalmic diseases , inflammation associated with autoimmune diseases or conditions or disorders where , both in the central nervous system ( cns ) or in any other organ , immune and / or inflammation suppression would be beneficial , parkinson &# 39 ; s disease , complication and / or side effects from treatment of parkinson &# 39 ; s disease , aids - related dementia complex hiv - related encephalopathy , devic &# 39 ; s disease , sydenham chorea , alzheimer &# 39 ; s disease and other degenerative diseases , conditions or disorders of the cns , inflammatory components of strokes , post - polio syndrome , immune and inflammatory components of psychiatric disorders , myelitis , encephalitis , subacute sclerosing pan - encephalitis , encephalomyelitis , acute neuropathy , subacute neuropathy , chronic neuropathy , guillaim - barre syndrome , sydenham chora , pseudo - tumour cerebri , down &# 39 ; s syndrome , huntington &# 39 ; s disease , amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , inflammatory components of cns compression or cns trauma or infections of the cns , inflammatory components of muscular atrophies and dystrophies , and immune and inflammatory related diseases , conditions or disorders of the central and peripheral nervous systems , post - traumatic inflammation , septic shock , infectious diseases , inflammatory complications or side effects of surgery or organ , inflammatory and / or immune complications and side effects of gene therapy , e . g . due to infection with a viral carrier , or inflammation associated with aids , to suppress or inhibit a humoral and / or cellular immune response , to treat or ameliorate monocyte or leukocyte proliferative diseases , e . g . leukaemia , by reducing the amount of monocytes or lymphocytes , for the prevention and / or treatment of graft rejection in cases of transplantation of natural or artificial cells , tissue and organs such as cornea , bone marrow , organs , lenses , pacemakers , natural or artificial skin tissue . trial design : a double blind , randomized study aimed at determining efficacy of adipose derived , stem cell activated treg is performed . a population of 110 patients is enrolled and randomized into either the placebo or treatment group . eligible patients are assessed for baseline ( pre - treatment ) clinical values and treated with daily placebo cell therapy administration , or adipose derived , rapamycin activated treg . patients are allowed to continue taking current treatment , however medical need for escalation of current ( non experimental ) treatment leads to exclusion of the patient from the study . effect evaluation occurs at weeks 2 , 4 , 8 , and 10 in the form of the ulcerative colitis disease activity index ( score 0 - 12 ). patients undergo endoscopy at baseline , and week 8 for assessment of inflammation and pathology using the system defined by geboes . other observations will include the number of bowel movements , visible blood in stool , abdominal pain , body temperature , pulse rate , haemoglobin , erythrocyte sedimentation rate ( esr ), and serum c reactive protein ( crp ) level . 2 . diagnosis of ulcerative colitis for at least 4 months based on endoscopic appearance or radiographic distribution of disease and corroborated with histopathology ( especially the absence of granulomata ). 3 . ulcerative colitis dai greater than or equal to 4 and less than or equal to 9 . 4 . active ulcerative colitis that is poorly controlled despite concurrent treatment with oral corticosteroids and / or immunosuppressants as defined : — stable (± 5 mg ) corticosteroid dose ( prednisone & lt ;= 20 mg / day or equivalent ) for at least 14 days prior to baseline , or maintenance corticosteroid dose ( prednisone & lt ;= 10 mg / day and & lt ; 20 mg / day or equivalent ) for at least 40 days prior to baseline — at least a 90 day course of azathioprine or 6 - mp prior to baseline , with a dose of azathioprine & lt ;= 1 . 5 mg / kg / day or 6 - mp & lt ;= 1 mg / kg / day ( rounded to the nearest available tablet formulation ), or a dose that is the highest tolerated by the subject ( e . g ., due to leukopenia , elevated liver enzymes , nausea ) during that time . subject must be on a stable dose for at least 28 days prior to baseline 1 . history of subtotal colectomy with ileorectostomy or colectomy with ileoanal pouch , koch pouch , or ileostomy for ulcerative olitis or is planning bowel surgery 2 . received previous treatment with rapamycin or previous participation in an rapamycin clinical study intervention : adipose tissue is obtained by liposuction from both placebo and treatment groups , under local anesthesia and general sedation . a hollow blunt - tipped canula is introduced into the subcutaneous space through a small incision (& lt ; 0 . 5 cm in diameter ). with gentle suction , the canula is moved through the adipose abdominal - wall compartment for mechanical disruption of the fatty tissue . a saline solution and the vasoconstrictor epinephrine are injected into the adipose compartment to minimize blood loss . using this procedure , 80 to 100 ml of raw of lipoaspirate is obtained from each patient . the raw lipoaspirate is washed extensively with sterile phosphate - buffered saline ( pbs ; gibco brl , paisley , scotland , uk ) to remove blood cells , saline , and local anesthetic . the extracellular matrix is digested with a solution of type ii collagenase ( 0 . 075 percent ; gibco brl ) in balanced salt solution ( 5 mg / ml ; sigma , st . louis , mo .) for 30 minutes at 37 ° c . to release the cellular fraction . then , the collagenase is inactivated by addition of an equal volume of dulbecco &# 39 ; s modified eagle &# 39 ; s medium ( dmem ; gibco brl ), which contained 10 percent fetal bovine serum ( fbs ; gibco brl ). the suspension of cells is centrifuged at 250 × g for 10 minutes . cells are resuspended in 0 . 16 m nh4cl and allowed to stand for 10 minutes at room temperature ( rt ) for lysis of erythrocytes . the mixture is then centrifuged at 250 × g , and cells are resuspended in dmem plus 10 percent fbs and 1 percent ampicillin / streptomycin mixture ( gibco , brl ) and then are plated in 100 - mm tissue - culture dishes at a concentration of 10 to 15 × 103 cells / cm2 . g - csf and flt - 3l are added to the cultures at a concentration of 50 ng / ml in order to activate stem cell function , so in turn to enhance treg activity . cells are cultured for 24 hours at 37 ° c . in an atmosphere of 5 - percent co2 in air . in contrast to culture of adipose mesenchymal stem cells , in this procedure non - adherent cells are not removed from the culture condition . cells are subsequently passaged 2 times at a frequency of 3 - 5 days . during passaging non - adherent cells are gently pipetted off the plate , and adherent cells are trypsinized . treg cell cells are subsequently purified from the preparation using anti - cd25 macs beads . a total of approximately 50 × 106 cells are concentrated in injectable saline with 3 % autologous serum and injected intravenously . patients in the placebo group are injected with saline and 3 % autologous serum in order not to bias the patients based on color of the solution being injected . outcome : the primary end point of the trial is a positive response as determined by a decrease in the dai by greater than or equal to 3 points at week 8 that was not accompanied by an increase in dosage of any of the concomitant medications and defined by mucosal healing on endoscopic examination ( score of zero on geboes scaled ). out of 110 patients enrolled , 10 are excluded due to protocol violations . of 50 patients completing the placebo treatment , the primary end point is reached in 4 patients . of 50 patients in the treatment group , 45 achieve the primary endpoint . one skilled in the art will appreciate that these methods , compositions , and cells are and may be adapted to carry out the objects and obtain the ends and advantages mentioned , as well as those inherent therein . the methods , procedures , and devices described herein are presently representative of preferred embodiments and are exemplary and are not intended as limitations on the scope of the invention . changes therein and other uses will occur to those skilled in the art which are encompassed within the spirit of the invention and are defined by the scope of the disclosure . it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that varying substitutions and modifications may be made to the invention disclosed herein without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention . those skilled in the art recognize that the aspects and embodiments of the invention set forth herein may be practiced separate from each other or in conjunction with each other . therefore , combinations of separate embodiments are within the scope of the invention as disclosed herein . all patents and publications mentioned in the specification are indicative of the levels of those skilled in the art to which the invention pertains . all patents and publications are herein incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication was specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference . the invention illustratively described herein suitably may be practiced in the absence of any element or elements , limitation or limitations which is not specifically disclosed herein . thus , for example , in each instance herein any of the terms “ comprising ,” “ consisting essentially of ” and “ consisting of ” may be replaced with either of the other two terms . the terms and expressions which have been employed are used as terms of description and not of limitation , and there is no intention that in the use of such terms and expressions indicates the exclusion of equivalents of the features shown and described or portions thereof . it is recognized that various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention disclosed . thus , it should be understood that although the present invention has been specifically disclosed by preferred embodiments and optional features , modification and variation of the concepts herein disclosed may be resorted to by those skilled in the art , and that such modifications and variations are considered to be within the scope of this invention as defined by the disclosure . each of the following references and all references provided herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entireties . 1 . bjorses , p ., et al ., gene defect behind apeced : a new clue to autoimmunity . hum mol genet , 1998 . 7 ( 10 ): p . 1547 - 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