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As an important part of the immune system, T lymphocytes exhibit undoubtedly an important role in targeting and eradicating cancer. However, despite these characteristics, their natural antitumor response may be insufficient. Numerous clinical trials in terminally ill cancer patients testing the design of novel and efficient immunotherapeutic approaches based on the adoptive transfer of autologous tumor-specific T lymphocytes have shown encouraging results. Moreover, this also led to the approval of engineered T-cell therapies in patients. Herein, we will expand on the development and the use of such strategies using tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes or genetically engineered T-cells. We will also comment on the requirements and potential hurdles encountered when elaborating and implementing such treatments as well as the exciting prospects for this kind of emerging personalized medicine therapy., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Natural killer (NK)-cell-based immunotherapy is emerging as an attractive approach for cancer treatment. However, to facilitate and expedite clinical implementation, important questions must be answered regarding the in vivo functionality and trafficking patterns of the transferred cells. We have recently developed a noninvasive cell-tracking technique, based on gold nanoparticles (GNPs) as cell-labeling and contrast agents for whole-body computed tomography (CT) imaging. Herein, we report the implementation of this technique for longitudinal and quantitative tracking of NK cell kinetics, the migration and biodistribution in tumor-bearing mice. NK cells were successfully labeled with GNPs, without impairing their biological function, as assessed both in vitro , by cytokine release and cytotoxicity assays, and in vivo , using a xenograft model of human tumors. Using CT, we longitudinally tracked the migration of intravenously injected NK cells and observed an accumulation of effector cell clusters at the tumor site, up to 72 h. Fluorescence imaging of the cells over time correlated with ex vivo quantitative analysis of gold content in the tumor, validating the accuracy and reliability of our technique. Our cell-tracking approach thus offers a valuable tool for preclinical studies, as well as for clinical applications, to elucidate the fate of NK cells and promote the implementation of NK-cell-based immunotherapy., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing financial interest., (© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.)

Aim: To elucidate the interactions, uptake mechanisms and cytotoxicity profile of glucose-functionalized gold nanoparticles (2GF-GNPs), for expanding and advancing the recently proposed technology of metabolic-based cancer detection to a variety of cancer diseases., Methods: Several cell types with different metabolic features were used to assess the involvement of GLUT-1 and different endocytosis pathways in 2GF-GNP uptake, and the cytotoxicity profile of 2GF-GNPs., Results: Cellular uptake of 2GF-GNP strongly correlated with GLUT-1 surface expression, and occurred mainly through clathrin-mediated endocytosis. 2GF-GNPs showed no toxic effect on cell cycle and proliferation., Conclusion: These findings promote development of metabolic-based cancer detection technologies, and suggest that 2GF-GNPs may enable specific cancer detection in a wide range of tumors characterized by high GLUT-1 expression.

Cancer immunotherapy has made enormous progress in offering safer and more effective treatments for the disease. Specifically, programmed death ligand 1 antibody (αPDL1), designed to perform immune checkpoint blockade (ICB), is now considered a pillar in cancer immunotherapy. However, due to the complexity and heterogeneity of tumors, as well as the diversity in patient response, ICB therapy only has a 30% success rate, at most; moreover, the efficacy of ICB can be evaluated only two months after start of treatment. Therefore, early identification of potential responders and nonresponders to therapy, using noninvasive means, is crucial for improving treatment decisions. Here, we report a straightforward approach for fast, image-guided prediction of therapeutic response to ICB. In a colon cancer mouse model, we demonstrate that the combination of computed tomography imaging and gold nanoparticles conjugated to αPDL1 allowed prediction of therapeutic response, as early as 48 h after treatment. This was achieved by noninvasive measurement of nanoparticle accumulation levels within the tumors. Moreover, we show that the nanoparticles efficiently prevented tumor growth with only a fifth of the standard dosage of clinical care. This technology may be developed into a powerful tool for early and noninvasive patient stratification as responders or nonresponders.

Recent developments in cancer treatment are demonstrating the increasing and powerful potential of immunotherapeutic strategies. In this regard, the adoptive transfer of tumor-specific T-lymphocytes approaches can lead to tumor regression in cancer patients. More recently, the use of T-cells genetically engineered to express cancer-specific receptors such as the anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) continues to show promise for the treatment of hematological malignancies. Still, there is a crucial need to develop efficient CAR-T cell approaches for the treatment of solid tumors. It has been shown that other lymphocytes such as natural killer (NK) cells can demonstrate potent antitumor function-nonetheless, their use in immunotherapy is rather limited due to difficulties in expanding these cells to therapeutically relevant numbers and to suppression by endogenous inhibitory mechanisms. Cancer recognition by NK cells is partly mediated by molecules termed natural cytotoxicity receptors (NCRs). In the present study, we hypothesize that it is possible to endow T-cells with an NK recognition pattern, providing them with a mean to recognize tumor cells, in a non-MHC restricted way. To test this, we genetically modified human T-cells with different chimeric receptors based on the human NCR2 molecule and then assessed their antitumor activity in vitro and in vivo . Our results show that expression in primary lymphocytes of an NCR2-derived CAR, termed s4428z, confers T-cells with the ability to specifically recognize heterogeneous tumors and to mediate tumor cytotoxicity in a mouse model. This study demonstrates the benefit of combining tumor recognition capability of NK cells with T cell effectiveness to improve cancer immunotherapy.

The human genome encodes thousands of unique long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), many of which are emerging as critical regulators of cell fate. However, their functions as well as their transcriptional regulation are only partially understood. The E2F1 transcription factor induces both proliferation and apoptosis, and is a critical downstream target of the tumor suppressor, RB. Here, we provide evidence that a novel lncRNA named GASL1 is transcriptionally regulated by E2F1; GASL1 levels are elevated upon activation of exogenous E2F1 or endogenous E2Fs. Inhibition of GASL1 expression induced cell cycle progression, and in particular, G1 exit. Moreover, GASL1 silencing enhanced cell proliferation, while, conversely, its ectopic expression inhibited proliferation. Knockdown of GASL1 also enhanced E2F1-induced apoptosis, suggesting the existence of an E2F/GASL1 negative feedback loop. In agreement with this notion, silencing of GASL1 led to increased levels of phosphorylated pRB and loss of Rb impaired the effect of GASL1 silencing on G1 exit. Importantly, xenograft experiments demonstrated that GASL1 deletion enhances tumor growth. Moreover, low levels of GASL1 are associated with decreased survival of liver cancer patients. Taken together, our data identify GASL1 as a novel lncRNA regulator of cell cycle progression and cell proliferation with a potential role in cancer.

p53 was reported to be an attractive immunotherapy target because it is mutated in approximately half of human cancers, resulting in its inactivation and often accumulation in tumor cells. Peptides derived from p53 are presented by class I MHC molecules and may act as tumor-associated epitopes which could be targeted by p53-specific T cells. Interestingly, it was recently shown that there is a lack of significant correlation between p53 expression levels in tumors and their recognition by p53-TCR transduced T cells. To better understand the influence of the mutational status of p53 on its presentation by the MHC system and on T cell antitumor reactivity, we generated several mutant p53 constructs and expressed them in HLA-A2 + /p53 - cells. Upon co-culture with p53-specific T cells, we measured the specific recognition of p53-expressing target cells by means of cytokine secretion, marker upregulation and cytotoxicity, and in parallel determined p53 expression levels by intracellular staining. We also examined the relevance of antigen presentation components on p53 recognition and the impact of mutant p53 expression on cell-cycle dynamics. Our results show that selected p53 mutations altering protein stability can modulate p53 presentation to T cells, leading to a differential immune reactivity inversely correlated with measured p53 protein levels. Thus, p53 may behave differently than other classical tumor antigens and its mutational status should therefore be taken into account when elaborating immunotherapy treatments of cancer patients targeting p53.

Recent advances in theranostic nanomedicine can promote stem cell and immune cell-based therapy. Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have been shown to be promising agents for in-vivo cell-tracking in cell-based therapy applications. Yet a crucial challenge is to develop a reliable protocol for cell upload with, on the one hand, sufficient nanoparticles to achieve maximum visibility of cells, while on the other hand, assuring minimal effect of particles on cell function and viability. Previous studies have demonstrated that the physicochemical parameters of GNPs have a critical impact on their efficient uptake by cells. In the current study we have examined possible variations in GNP uptake, resulting from different incubation period and concentrations in different cell-lines. We have found that GNPs effectively labeled three different cell-lines - stem, immune and cancer cells, with minimal impairment to cell viability and functionality. We further found that uptake efficiency of GNPs into cells stabilized after a short period of time, while GNP concentration had a significant impact on cellular uptake, revealing cell-dependent differences. Our results suggest that while heeding the slight variations within cell lines, modifying the loading time and concentration of GNPs, can promote cell visibility in various nanoparticle-dependent in-vivo cell tracking and imaging applications.

Adoptively transferred tumor-infiltrating T lymphocytes (TILs) that mediate complete regression of metastatic melanoma have been shown to recognize mutated epitopes expressed by autologous tumors. Here, in an attempt to develop a strategy for facilitating the isolation, expansion, and study of mutated antigen-specific T cells, we performed whole-exome sequencing on matched tumor and normal DNA isolated from 8 patients with metastatic melanoma. Candidate mutated epitopes were identified using a peptide-MHC-binding algorithm, and these epitopes were synthesized and used to generate panels of MHC tetramers that were evaluated for binding to tumor digests and cultured TILs used for the treatment of patients. This strategy resulted in the identification of 9 mutated epitopes from 5 of the 8 patients tested. Cells reactive with 8 of the 9 epitopes could be isolated from autologous peripheral blood, where they were detected at frequencies that were estimated to range between 0.4% and 0.002%. To the best of our knowledge, this represents the first demonstration of the successful isolation of mutation-reactive T cells from patients' peripheral blood prior to immune therapy, potentially providing the basis for designing personalized immunotherapies to treat patients with advanced cancer.

Application of immune cell-based therapy in routine clinical practice is challenging due to the poorly understood mechanisms underlying success or failure of treatment. Development of accurate and quantitative imaging techniques for noninvasive cell tracking can provide essential knowledge for elucidating these mechanisms. We designed a novel method for longitudinal and quantitative in vivo cell tracking, based on the superior visualization abilities of classical X-ray computed tomography (CT), combined with state-of-the-art nanotechnology. Herein, T-cells were transduced to express a melanoma-specific T-cell receptor and then labeled with gold nanoparticles (GNPs) as a CT contrast agent. The GNP-labeled T-cells were injected intravenously to mice bearing human melanoma xenografts, and whole-body CT imaging allowed examination of the distribution, migration, and kinetics of T-cells. Using CT, we found that transduced T-cells accumulated at the tumor site, as opposed to nontransduced cells. Labeling with gold nanoparticles did not affect T-cell function, as demonstrated both in vitro, by cytokine release and proliferation assays, and in vivo, as tumor regression was observed. Moreover, to validate the accuracy and reliability of the proposed cell tracking technique, T-cells were labeled both with green fluorescent protein for fluorescence imaging, and with GNPs for CT imaging. A remarkable correlation in signal intensity at the tumor site was observed between the two imaging modalities, at all time points examined, providing evidence for the accuracy of our CT cell tracking abilities. This new method for cell tracking with CT offers a valuable tool for research, and more importantly for clinical applications, to study the fate of immune cells in cancer immunotherapy.

Adoptive transfer of T cells genetically modified to express cancer-specific receptors can mediate impressive tumor regression in terminally ill patients. However, T cell function and persistence over time could be hampered by the activation of inhibitory costimulatory pathways, such as programmed death 1 (PD1)/programmed death ligand 1, leading to T cell exhaustion and providing tumor cells with an escape mechanism from immunosurveillance. In addition, the lack of positive costimulation at the tumor site can further dampen T cell response. Thus, as T cell genetic engineering has become clinically relevant, we aimed at enhancing T cell antitumor activity by genetically diverting T cell-negative costimulatory signals into positive ones using chimeric costimulatory retargeting molecules and which are composed of the PD1 extracellular domain fused to the signaling domains of positive costimulatory molecules such as CD28 and 4-1BB. After characterizing the optimal PD1 chimera, we designed and optimized a tripartite retroviral vector that enables the simultaneous expression of this chimeric molecule in conjunction with a cancer-specific TCR. Human T cells, transduced to express a PD1/28 chimeric molecule, exhibited enhanced cytokine secretion and upregulation of activation markers upon coculture with tumor cells. These engineered cells also proliferated better compared with control cells. Finally, we tested the function of these cells in two xenograft models of human melanoma tumors and show that PD1/28-engineered human T cells demonstrated superior antitumor function. Overall, we propose that engineering T cells with a costimulatory retargeting molecule can enhance their function, which bears important implications for the improvement of T cell immunotherapy.