Objective:To prepare nanobody-based immunotoxin BI7D12-PE38KDEL targeting EGFR and to examine its cytotoxicity against EGFR positive tumor cells.Methods:By using molecular cloning strategy,prokaryotic expression construct of pET28a-BI7D12-PE38KDEL was generated which consisted of nanobody 7D12 targeting EGFR in the form of a divalent fused with PE38KDEL,a truncated form of pseudomonas exotoxin A via a flexible peptide(G4S)4,and then transformed into E.coli BL21(DE3).Protein expression was induced by adding IPTG,purified by Ni-affinity column chromatography,and verified by Western blot.The binding capacity of the resulted immunotoxin to EGFR-positive cells A549,HT29,MCF-7 and EGFR-negative cells CEM,Jurkat were determined by flow cytometry assay,and its cytotoxicity against the target cells was examined.Briefly,tumor cells were treated with different dosage of the immunotoxin,and the killing efficacy of BI7D12-PE38KDEL on these cells were assessed by WST-1 assay after 72 hours.Results:The SDS-PAGE and Western blot results showed the recombinant immunotoxin BI7D12-PE38KDEL was successfully prepared,and majority of them was expressed in soluble form.BI7D12-PE38KDEL could selectively bind to EGFR-positive cells of A549,HT29,and MCF-7.More importantly,the immunotoxin exhibited much more significant killing effect on these EGFR positive cells compared to the negative control group of CEM and Jurkat cells(P<0.01).Conclusion:In the current study,the nanobody-based immunotoxin BI7D12-PE38KDEL targeting EGFR was successfully prepared and exhibited a superior inhibition effect for the growth of EGFR-positive cells.

Objective:To investigate the effect of blocking BRCAA1 gene expression with siRNA on the proliferation of tumor cell line MCF-7 and Rb gene expression.Methods:RNAi was employed to specifically knock down BRCAA1 expression.MCF-7 cells were transfected with complexes constructed with lipids and chemically synthesized Pre-designed anti-BRCAA1 siRNAs.The total RNA was isolated and reversely transcribed after 48 h.The expressions of BRCAA1 and Rb mRNA were determined by Real-Time PCR.Results:Compared with negative control,transfected MCF-7 cells had a 42.3% decrease in expression of BRCAA1 mRNA and an 11.1% increase in Rb mRNA expression.The inhibitory rate of MCF-7 cells proliferation was(81.6?6.1)%.Conclusion:There may be some antagonistic effect between BRCAA1 gene and Rb gene in proliferation of tumor cells,which provides a potential target for anti-tumor gene therapy.

[Abstract] Objective: To develop a new type of CD7 chimeric antigen receptor modified T cell (CD7-CAR-T) for the treatment of CD7 positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and to observe its killing effect on CD7 positive AML cells. Methods: The CD7-CAR lentiviral vector was constructed based on the CD7 Nanobody sequence and costimulatory domain sequence of CD28 and 4-1BB. The lentiviral particles were packaged and used to co-transfect human T cells with protein expression blocker (PEBL), so as to prepare CD7- CAR-T cells. Real time cellular analysis (RTCA) was used to monitor the cytotoxicity of CD7-CAR-T cells on CD7 overexpressed 293T cells. Flow cytometry assay was used to detect the effect of CD7-CAR-T cells on proliferation and cytokine secretion of AML cells with high, medium and low CD7 expressions (KG-1, HEL and Kasumi-1 cells, respectively). Results: CD7-CAR-T cell was successfully constructed and its surface expression of CD7 was successfully blocked. Compared with T cells, CD7-CAR-T cells could significantly inhibit the proliferation of CD7-293T cells and promote the release of TNF, Granzyme B and INF-γ; in addition, CD7-CAR-T cells also significantly promoted the apoptosis (t=147.1, P<0.01; t=23.57, P<0.01) and cytokine release (P<0.05 or P<0.01) in CD7 positive KG-1 and HEL cells, but had little effect on Kasumi-1 cells that only expressed minimal CD7 antigen (t=0.7058, P>0.05). Conclusion: CD7-CAR-T cells can specifically kill CD7-positive AML cells in vitro.