T-cell receptor (TCR)-engineered T cells are a novel option for adoptive cell therapy used for the treatment of several advanced forms of cancer. Work using TCR-engineered T cells began more than two decades ago, with numerous preclinical studies showing that such cells could mediate tumor lysis and eradication. The success of these trials provided the foundation for clinical trials, including recent clinical successes using TCR-engineered T cells to target New York esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (NY-ESO-1). These successes demonstrate the potential of this approach to treat cancer. In this review, we provide a perspective on the current and future applications of TCR-engineered T cells for the treatment of cancer. Our summary focuses on TCR activation and both pre-clinical and clinical applications of TCR-engineered T cells. We also discuss how to enhance the function of TCR-engineered T cells and prolong their longevity in the tumor microenvironment.
Animals ; Antigens, Neoplasm ; immunology ; metabolism ; Humans ; Neoplasms ; immunology ; metabolism ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell ; genetics ; metabolism ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; metabolism

Objective: The docking and superantigen activity sites of staphylococcal enterotoxin-like W (SElW) and T cell receptor (TCR) were predicted, and its SElW was cloned, expressed and purified. Methods: AlphaFold was used to predict the 3D structure of SElW protein monomers, and the protein models were evaluated with the help of the SAVES online server from ERRAT, Ramachandran plot, and Verify_3D. The ZDOCK server simulates the docking conformation of SElW and TCR, and the amino acid sequences of SElW and other serotype enterotoxins were aligned. The primers were designed to amplify selw, and the fragment was recombined into the pMD18-T vector and sequenced. Then recombinant plasmid pMD18-T was digested with BamHⅠand Hind Ⅲ. The target fragment was recombined into the expression plasmid pET-28a(+). After identification of the recombinant plasmid, the protein expression was induced by isopropyl-beta-D- thiogalactopyranoside. The SElW expressed in the supernatant was purified by affinity chromatography and quantified by the BCA method. Results: The predicted three-dimensional structure showed that the SElW protein was composed of two domains, the amino-terminal and the carboxy-terminal. The amino-terminal domain was composed of 3 α-helices and 6 β-sheets, and the carboxy-terminal domain included 2 α-helices and 7 antiparallel β-sheets composition. The overall quality factor score of the SElW protein model was 98.08, with 93.24% of the amino acids having a Verify_3D score ≥0.2 and no amino acids located in disallowed regions. The docking conformation with the highest score (1 521.328) was selected as the analysis object, and the 19 hydrogen bonds between the corresponding amino acid residues of SElW and TCR were analyzed by PyMOL. Combined with sequence alignment and the published data, this study predicted and found five important superantigen active sites, namely Y18, N19, W55, C88, and C98. The highly purified soluble recombinant protein SElW was obtained with cloning, expression, and protein purification. Conclusions: The study found five superantigen active sites in SElW protein that need special attention and successfully constructed and expressed the SElW protein, which laid the foundation for further exploration of the immune recognition mechanism of SElW.
Humans ; Enterotoxins/genetics* ; Superantigens/genetics* ; Catalytic Domain ; Selenoprotein W/metabolism* ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell

Humans ; Liver Neoplasms ; genetics ; immunology ; pathology ; Lymphoma, T-Cell ; genetics ; immunology ; pathology ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; metabolism ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta ; metabolism ; Splenic Neoplasms ; genetics ; immunology ; pathology

Cytokine-activated T cells (CATs) can be easily expanded and are widely applied to cancer immunotherapy. However, the good efficacy of CATs is rarely reported in clinical applications because CATs have no or very low antigen specificity. The low-efficacy problem can be resolved using T cell antigen receptor-engineered CAT (TCR-CAT). Herein, we demonstrate that NY-ESO-1 HLA-A*02:01-specific high-affinity TCR (HAT)-transduced CATs can specifically kill cancer cells with good efficacy. With low micromolar range dissociation equilibrium constants, HAT-transduced CATs showed good specificity with no off-target killing. Furthermore, the high-affinity TCR-CATs delivered significantly better activation and cytotoxicity than the equivalent TCR-engineered T cells (TCR-Ts) in terms of interferon-γ and granzyme B production and in vitro cancer cell killing ability. TCR-CAT may be a very good alternative to the expensive TCR-T, which is considered an effective personalized cyto-immunotherapy.
Cell Line, Tumor ; Cytokines ; metabolism ; Cytotoxicity, Immunologic ; Genetic Engineering ; HLA-A2 Antigen ; metabolism ; Humans ; Immunotherapy, Adoptive ; methods ; Lymphocyte Activation ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell ; genetics ; immunology ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology

The T cell antigen receptor-CD3 (TCR/CD3) complex is assembled in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of T cells after synthesis of individual chains, and is transported to the cell surface for immune recognition and regulation. Partially assembled or unassembled TCR chains are retained and rapidly degraded in the ER. These processes are strictly regulated in the ER at post-translational level for the maintenance of cellular homeostasis. In order to identify the region responsible for the ER retention and rapid degradation of the TCR beta chain, number of mutants were engineered and their fates, after synthesis in the ER of the HeLa cells, were investigated. Extensive mutagenic analysis of TCR beta chain, including changing the charged amino acid residues and two tyrosine residues of the transmembrane region into hydrophobic amino acid residues, did not alter the ER retention and rapid degradation. Soluble TCR beta chain and cytoplasmic tail truncation mutant were also rapidly degraded in the ER. However, N-glycosylation rate of soluble TCR beta chain in the ER was significantly increased possibly due to the increased exposure of the N-glycosylation site. These results suggest that the ER retention of TCR beta chain is mediated through its extracellular and transmembrane-cytoplasmic regions and that the rapid ER degradation can be caused by an exposure of unassembled subregion of TCR beta chain, either extracellular domain or hydrophobic transmembrane region to the hydrophilic environment (lumen of the ER) rather than by presence of a specific degradation signal.
Cytoplasm/metabolism ; Endoplasmic Reticulum/metabolism* ; Hela Cells/metabolism ; Human ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/metabolism* ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/genetics* ; Recombinant Proteins/metabolism ; Recombinant Proteins/genetics

T cells recognize antigens through TCRs (T cell receptor). T cell clones can be sorted into 24 gene subfamilies based on the usage of the segments of TCR BV in gene rearrangement. Application of the various segments of TCR BV may establish TCR BV spectrotyping that can be used to analyze and recognize the different functional T cell clones, and understand the function and proliferation of various T cell clones in malignancy and autoimmune disease. In vitro expansion of a great deal of the specific antitumor T cells and transfusing them to patients will be able to develop a new method for tumor immunotherapy. Through analyze the character of the TCR BV gene, McAb against TCR or DNA vaccine to inhibit the growth of T cell clones associated-autoimmune disease and tumors might be developed. The McAb and vaccine may be used to cure these diseases. The commo T cells can also be modifed to specific antitumor T cells by method of TCR gene transfer. In this review, the characteristics of TCR, analysis method for gene spectrotyping of TCR BV, segments of TCR BV and autoimmue distase, T cell clones in hematologic maligrancies, recognition of T cell oligoclone expansion of T cells, and application of TCR BV gene spectrotyping in bone marrow transplantation were discussed and summarised.
Autoimmune Diseases ; genetics ; immunology ; Clone Cells ; cytology ; metabolism ; Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor ; genetics ; Hematologic Neoplasms ; genetics ; immunology ; Humans ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell ; classification ; genetics ; T-Lymphocyte Subsets ; cytology ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo analyze the drift of the complementarity-determining region 3 (CDR3) of T cell receptor beta (TCRbeta) chain variable region in T cells of healthy volunteers cultured with interleukin-2 (IL-2).

METHODST cells were isolated from the peripheral blood and cultured in vitro in the presence of IL-2. The non-specific killing effect of the cells was analyzed by LDH releasing assay, and the distribution of TCRbeta chain CDR3 in healthy volunteers by immunoscope spectratyping method to evaluate the clonality of the T cells.

RESULTSThe results showed Gaussian distribution of TCR Vbeta gene CDR3 in healthy volunteers. The T cell cultured with IL-2, however, displayed some anomalous and oligoclonal expansion in different TCR Vbeta families without killing effect against nasophargngal carcinoma cell line CNE2.

CONCLUSIONIL-2 may affect TCRbeta chain CDR3 distribution in T cells cultured in vitro.

Cells, Cultured ; Complementarity Determining Regions ; genetics ; Genetic Drift ; Humans ; Interleukin-2 ; metabolism ; Leukocytes, Mononuclear ; metabolism ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; genetics ; T-Lymphocytes ; immunology ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo analyze the dysregulated genes among the differentially expressed genes in 41 nasopharyngeal biopsy samples and identify their protective transcriptional factors.

METHODSThe differentially expressed gene profiles were obtained by analyzing both types I and II nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC_I and NPC_II, respectively) using EXCEL and Bioinformatics tools. The transcriptional factors were further studied only when (1) the difference in the binding sites of the differentially expressed genes between NPC_I and NPC_II groups was statistically significant, (2) the expressions of the transcription factors were correlated with the gene expressions in the samples, and (3) the transcription factors affected at least 40% of the expression of the related genes.

RESULTSIn NPC_I samples, 80 transcription factors were found to be up-regulated, in which RUNX3, GATA3, NR3C1, NRF1, RXRA, SMAD7, TBP, and ZBTB6 were positive factors and HLF and MTF1 were negative factors, involved in the regulation of the genes in T cell receptor signaling pathway. No eligible transcription factors were found in association with down-regulated genes in NPC_I compared to NPC_II gene expression profiles.

CONCLUSIONSThe over-expressed genes in NPC_I are mainly related to immune responses, and we found 8 positive factors and 2 negative factors that regulate the genes in T cell receptor signaling pathway. The 10 transcription factors may serve as potential therapeutic targets for NPC_I. We failed to identify any transcription factors associated with down-regulated genes in NPC_I relative to NPC_II possibly as a result of multiple factors that affect the differential gene expressions in NPC_II including the transcription factors, DNA phosphorylation and modification, chromosome variation and environmental factors.

Carcinoma ; Gene Expression Profiling ; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ; Humans ; Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms ; classification ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell ; genetics ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; Transcription Factors ; genetics ; metabolism

OBJECTIVETo investigate the significance of detecting TCR gene clonal rearrangement in the diagnosis of mycosis fungoides (MF) and to optimize the primers used for detecting the TCR gene clonal rearrangement with PCR in paraffin embedded tissues of MF.

METHODSNineteen cases of MF were enrolled into the study. A panel of 10 antibodies were used for immunophenotypic analysis and polymerase chain reaction for TCR-γ and TCR-β gene rearrangement detection in this study.

RESULTSTCR gene clonal rearrangements were detected in all 19 cases, in which 84.2% cases (16/19) had TCR-γ gene clonal rearrangements. The positive rates of the primers T(VG)/T(JX), V(2-5)/V(8-12)/JGT(1) and BIOMED-2-TCR-γ were 47.4%, 78.9% and 31.6%, respectively. The positive rate of V(2-5)/V(8-12)/JGT(1) was statistically significantly higher than that of T(VG)/T(JX) and BIOMED-2-TCR-γ (P < 0.05). No TCR gene clonal rearrangement was detected using the primers V(γ11)/V(γ101)/Jγ12 and V(γ11)/V(γ101)/J(p12). TCR-β gene clonal rearrangement was detected in 31.6% (6/19) cases.

CONCLUSIONSTCR gene clonal rearrangement analysis is a useful tool in the diagnosis of MF and TCR-γ gene is a good target gene for the detection. The primers T(VG)/T(JX), V(2-5)/V(8-12)/JGT(1) and BIOMED-2-TCR-γ can be used in clinicopathologic detection for TCR gene clonal rearrangement and V(2-5)/V(8-12)/JGT(1) may be the first choice.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antigens, CD7 ; metabolism ; Base Sequence ; CD2 Antigens ; metabolism ; CD3 Complex ; metabolism ; CD4 Antigens ; metabolism ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Gene Rearrangement, beta-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor ; Gene Rearrangement, gamma-Chain T-Cell Antigen Receptor ; Humans ; Leukocyte Common Antigens ; metabolism ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Mycosis Fungoides ; diagnosis ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Paraffin Embedding ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta ; genetics ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, gamma-delta ; genetics ; Skin Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; genetics ; metabolism ; pathology ; Young Adult

Analysis of the T-cell receptor (TCR) repertoire of innate CD4+ T cells selected by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II-dependent thymocyte-thymocyte (T-T) interaction (T-T CD4+ T cells) is essential for predicting the characteristics of the antigens that bind to these T cells and for distinguishing T-T CD4+ T cells from other types of innate T cells. Using the TCRmini Tg mouse model, we show that the repertoire of TCRalpha chains in T-T CD4+ T cells was extremely diverse, in contrast to the repertoires previously described for other types of innate T cells. The TCRalpha chain sequences significantly overlapped between T-T CD4+ T cells and conventional CD4+ T cells in the thymus and spleen. However, the diversity of the TCRalpha repertoire of T-T CD4+ T cells seemed to be restricted compared with that of conventional CD4+ T cells. Interestingly, the frequency of the parental OT-II TCRalpha chains was significantly reduced in the process of T-T interaction. This diverse and shifted repertoire in T-T CD4+ T cells has biological relevance in terms of defense against diverse pathogens and a possible regulatory role during peripheral T-T interaction.
Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Antigens, Surface/metabolism ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes/cytology/*immunology/*metabolism ; Cell Communication ; Cell Differentiation/genetics/immunology ; Clonal Evolution ; Histocompatibility Antigens Class II/*immunology ; *Immunity, Innate ; Immunophenotyping ; Lymphocyte Count ; Mice ; Mice, Knockout ; Mice, Transgenic ; Peptide Fragments/chemistry ; Phenotype ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell/chemistry/*genetics/metabolism ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell, alpha-beta/chemistry/genetics ; Spleen/cytology ; Thymocytes/cytology/immunology/metabolism