Co-opting signalling molecules enables logic-gated control of CAR T cells

Aidan M. Tousley, Maria Caterina Rotiroti, Louai Labanieh, Lea Wenting Rysavy, Won-Ju Kim, Caleb Lareau, Elena Sotillo, Evan W. Weber, Skyler P. Rietberg, Guillermo Nicolas Dalton, Yajie Yin, Dorota Klysz, Peng Xu, Eva L. Serna, Alexander R. Dunn, Ansuman T. Satpathy, Crystal L. Mackall and Robbie G. Majzner ()
Additional contact information
Aidan M. Tousley: Stanford University School of Medicine
Maria Caterina Rotiroti: Stanford University School of Medicine
Louai Labanieh: Stanford University
Lea Wenting Rysavy: Stanford University School of Medicine
Won-Ju Kim: Stanford University School of Medicine
Caleb Lareau: Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Elena Sotillo: Stanford University School of Medicine
Evan W. Weber: Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Skyler P. Rietberg: Stanford University School of Medicine
Guillermo Nicolas Dalton: Stanford University School of Medicine
Yajie Yin: Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Dorota Klysz: Stanford University School of Medicine
Peng Xu: Stanford University School of Medicine
Eva L. Serna: Stanford University
Alexander R. Dunn: Stanford University
Ansuman T. Satpathy: Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
Crystal L. Mackall: Stanford University School of Medicine
Robbie G. Majzner: Stanford University School of Medicine

Nature, 2023, vol. 615, issue 7952, 507-516

Abstract: Abstract Although chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells have altered the treatment landscape for B cell malignancies, the risk of on-target, off-tumour toxicity has hampered their development for solid tumours because most target antigens are shared with normal cells1,2. Researchers have attempted to apply Boolean-logic gating to CAR T cells to prevent toxicity3–5; however, a truly safe and effective logic-gated CAR has remained elusive6. Here we describe an approach to CAR engineering in which we replace traditional CD3ζ domains with intracellular proximal T cell signalling molecules. We show that certain proximal signalling CARs, such as a ZAP-70 CAR, can activate T cells and eradicate tumours in vivo while bypassing upstream signalling proteins, including CD3ζ. The primary role of ZAP-70 is to phosphorylate LAT and SLP-76, which form a scaffold for signal propagation. We exploited the cooperative role of LAT and SLP-76 to engineer logic-gated intracellular network (LINK) CAR, a rapid and reversible Boolean-logic AND-gated CAR T cell platform that outperforms other systems in both efficacy and prevention of on-target, off-tumour toxicity. LINK CAR will expand the range of molecules that can be targeted with CAR T cells, and will enable these powerful therapeutic agents to be used for solid tumours and diverse diseases such as autoimmunity7 and fibrosis8. In addition, this work shows that the internal signalling machinery of cells can be repurposed into surface receptors, which could open new avenues for cellular engineering.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05778-2

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