Harnessing T cell exhaustion and trogocytosis to isolate patient-derived tumor-specific TCR
Cet article présente une approche méthodologique exploitant les antigènes circulants associés à la tumeur, les lymphocytes T "épuisés" et la trogocytose pour isoler le récepteur TCR spécifique de la tumeur
To study and then harness the tumor-specific T cell dynamics after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant, we typed the frequency, phenotype, and function of lymphocytes directed against tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) in 39 consecutive transplanted patients, for 1 year after transplant. We showed that TAA-specific T cells circulated in 90% of patients but display a limited effector function associated to an exhaustion phenotype, particularly in the subgroup of patients deemed to relapse, where exhausted stem cell memory T cells accumulated. Accordingly, cancer-specific cytolytic functions were relevant only when the TAA-specific T cell receptors (TCRs) were transferred into healthy, genome-edited T cells. We then exploited trogocytosis and ligandome-on-chip technology to unveil the specificities of tumor-specific TCRs retrieved from the exhausted T cell pool. Overall, we showed that harnessing circulating TAA-specific and exhausted T cells allow to isolate TCRs against TAAs and previously not described acute myeloid leukemia antigens, potentially relevant for T cell–based cancer immunotherapy. Exhausted Tumor-specific T cells circulate in patients and their specificity can be typed by trogocytosis and Peptidome on chip screening.
Science Advances , article en libre accès, 2022