NZ735267B2 - Chimeric antigen receptor - Google Patents
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- NZ735267B2 NZ735267B2 NZ735267A NZ73526716A NZ735267B2 NZ 735267 B2 NZ735267 B2 NZ 735267B2 NZ 735267 A NZ735267 A NZ 735267A NZ 73526716 A NZ73526716 A NZ 73526716A NZ 735267 B2 NZ735267 B2 NZ 735267B2
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- A61K35/14—Blood; Artificial blood
- A61K35/17—Lymphocytes; B-cells; T-cells; Natural killer cells; Interferon-activated or cytokine-activated lymphocytes
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- C07K14/00—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof
- C07K14/435—Peptides having more than 20 amino acids; Gastrins; Somatostatins; Melanotropins; Derivatives thereof from animals; from humans
- C07K14/705—Receptors; Cell surface antigens; Cell surface determinants
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- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
- C07K—PEPTIDES
- C07K16/00—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies
- C07K16/18—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans
- C07K16/28—Immunoglobulins [IGs], e.g. monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies against material from animals or humans against receptors, cell surface antigens or cell surface determinants
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- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
- C07K—PEPTIDES
- C07K2317/00—Immunoglobulins specific features
- C07K2317/60—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by non-natural combinations of immunoglobulin fragments
- C07K2317/62—Immunoglobulins specific features characterized by non-natural combinations of immunoglobulin fragments comprising only variable region components
- C07K2317/622—Single chain antibody (scFv)
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- C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
- C07—ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
- C07K—PEPTIDES
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- C12—BIOCHEMISTRY; BEER; SPIRITS; WINE; VINEGAR; MICROBIOLOGY; ENZYMOLOGY; MUTATION OR GENETIC ENGINEERING
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- C12N5/06—Animal cells or tissues; Human cells or tissues
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- C12N5/0636—T lymphocytes
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Abstract
The present invention provides a chimeric antigen-receptor (CAR)-forming polypeptide comprising: (i) an antigen-binding domain; (ii) a coiled-coil spacer domain; (iii) a transmembrane domain; and (iv) an endodomain. The invention also provides a multimeric CAR formed by association of a plurality of CAR- forming polypeptides by virtue of association of their coiled-coil spacer domains. CAR- forming polypeptides by virtue of association of their coiled-coil spacer domains.
Description
P106296PCT
CHIMERIC ANTIGEN RECEPTOR
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR), comprising a particular
spacer domain which causes the formation of multimeric CAR molecules at the cell surface.
The multimeric CAR molecule may be “super-sensitive” and capable of inducing T-cell
activation in response to binding an antigen which is expressed at low density of a target cell.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs)
Traditionally, antigen-specific T-cells have been generated by selective expansion of
peripheral blood T-cells natively specific for the target antigen. However, it is difficult and quite
often impossible to select and expand large numbers of T-cells specific for most cancer
antigens. Gene-therapy with integrating vectors affords a solution to this problem as
transgenic expression of Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) allows generation of large
numbers of T cells specific to any surface antigen by ex vivo viral vector transduction of a bulk
population of peripheral blood T-cells.
Chimeric antigen receptors are proteins which graft the specificity of an antigen binder, such
as a monoclonal antibody (mAb), to the effector function of a T-cell. Their usual form is that
of a type I transmembrane domain protein with an antigen recognizing amino terminus, a
spacer, a transmembrane domain all connected to a compound endodomain which transmits
T-cell survival and activation signals (see Figure 1A).
The most common forms of these molecules are fusions of single-chain variable fragments
(scFv) derived from monoclonal antibodies which recognize a target antigen, fused via a
spacer and a transmembrane domain to a signalling endodomain. Such molecules result in
activation of the T-cell in response to recognition by the scFv of its target. When T cells
express such a CAR, they recognize and kill target cells that express the target antigen.
Several CARs have been developed against tumour associated antigens, and adoptive
transfer approaches using such CAR-expressing T cells are currently in clinical trial for the
treatment of various cancers.
P106296PCT
CARs often comprise a spacer domain to provide an appropriate distance between the
antigen-binding domain and the cell membrane and to allow for suitable orientation, reach and
segregation from phosphatases upon ligand engagement.
Common spacers used are the Fc of IgG1, the stalk from CD8α and CD28 and even just the
IgG1 hinge alone or the ectodomain of CD247 can suffice depending on the antigen (Figure
2b).
These common spacers are limited because they either must contain whole domain structures
in order to form a functional spacer or they are heavily glycosylated and changes in amino
acid length would result in unpredictable changes in spacer size. For example IgG spacers
must contain whole numbers of immunoglobulin domains. This requirement for a whole
number of structural domains means that the alterations that can be made to the spacers are
limited.
In addition, the above listed spacers are typically long primary amino acid sequences which
fold to form the required secondary and tertiary structures. As such they are typically encoded
by long nucleic acid sequences. This requirement for a long nucleic acid sequence is a
problem for the construction of vectors encoding the CARs.
Classical CARs have certain design constraints. As a classical CAR is homodimer, there are
commonly two (identical) binding specificities and a 1:1 ratio of antigen binding domains to
intracellular T-cell signalling domains. This imposes a certain stoichiometry and limits the
flexibility of the system as a whole.
There is thus a need for alternative CARs which offer greater flexibility in terms of design.
Affinity issues
CAR binding domains are usually derived from the variable region of either pre-existing
antibody or antibodies selected from a library. As a result, most selected CARs bind cognate
ligand with nanomolar affinity. In contrast, the biophysical properties of TCR:peptide:MHC
(TCR-pMHC) binding are usually 10-1uM (orders of magnitude lower in affinity). Although
higher affinity interactions increase specificity for a ligand at a given receptor concentration,
there is emerging evidence that the TCR has evolved to have a lower affinity so as to allow T-
cells to detect target cells that express low density cognate peptide MHC.
P106296PCT
It has been reported that a T-cell can be activated by as few as ten cognate pMHC and that
one pMHC can trigger a productive signal in up to 200 TCR molecules. This is thought to be
achieved through a process known as serial triggering; where one cognate pMHC present on
the target cell can go through a cycle of binding, triggering and then dissociating from a TCR
multiple times, effectively amplifying the signal. As a consequence, only a low number of
cognate pMHC are needed to transduce a productive signal.
The higher affinity of CARs means that the molecular dissociation of an interaction can take
minutes to hours, unlike TCR which is typically in the order of seconds. For this reason it is
unlikely that CAR signalling undergoes an effective serial triggering response but relies instead
on the ligation of higher numbers of receptors. This may limit CARs to target ligands that are
expressed on target cells at high density. It has been estimated that a high affinity CAR
requires a target cell to express >10k ligand molecules to elicit an effective killing response.
More specifically, using a first generation CAR, James et al. have shown a requirement of
~30,000 target molecules/target cell (inducing endocytosis of ~20,000 CAR molecules) to
trigger maximum lytic activity (S. James et al., The Journal of Immunology, vol. 184 (8) 4284-
4294, 2010). Animal models indicate that target cells that express ligands below the threshold
for killing can escape detection and can re-establish disease (U. Anurathapan et al., Molecular
Therapy, vol. 22 (3) 623–633, 2014).
One method to increase CAR sensitivity to low density ligands is to use a low affinity binder
domain which can then mimic the TCR-pMHC serial triggering response. However there are
several limitations to this approach. The use of a low affinity CAR is currently unpredictable,
due to the unknown contribution that co-stimulatory, pseudodimer formation and adhesion
molecules play in TCR-pMHC serial triggering responses. In CAR therapy, these molecular
interactions vary depending on the target cells and it is therefore difficult to obtain a robust
serial triggering response. Furthermore, the methods to reduce the affinity of CARs to be on
par with TCR usually involve starting with a high affinity CAR and then mutating the CDRs.
This is a lengthy and often unsuccessful approach which can cause unpredictable results and
increase the risk of off target binding.
Engineering a CAR that is able to trigger in the presence of low density ligand would allow the
therapy to target many more cancers and also reduce the chance of cancer escape.
There is thus a need for CARs which are not associated with the problems outlined above.
SUMMARY OF ASPECTS OF THE INVENTION
P106296PCT
In a first aspect the present invention provides a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-forming
polypeptide comprising:
(i) an antigen-binding domain;
(ii) a coiled-coil spacer domain;
(iii) a transmembrane domain; and
(iv) an endodomain.
The present invention also provides an accessory polypeptide comprising:
(i) a coiled-coil spacer domain;
(iii) a transmembrane domain; and
(iv) an endodomain.
The coiled-coil domain enables the multimerization of a plurality of CAR-forming polypeptides
and/or accessory polypeptides, such as at least three CAR-forming polypeptides/accessory
polypeptides, to form a multimeric CAR.
The coiled-coil domain may be derived from any of the following: cartilage-oligomeric matrix
protein (COMP), mannose-binding protein A, coiled-coil serine-rich protein 1, polypeptide
release factor 2, SNAP-25, SNARE, Lac repressor or apolipoprotein E.
The coiled-coil domain may comprise the sequence shown as SEQ ID No. 1 or a fragment
thereof, or a variant thereof which has at least 80% sequence identity.
The endodomain may comprise at least one of CD3 zeta endodomain, CD28 endodomain,
41BB endodomain and OX40 endodomain.
The endodomain may comprise the sequence shown as SEQ ID No. 7 or a variant thereof
which has at least 80% sequence identity.
The antigen-binding domain may bind an antigen which is expressed at a low density on a
target cell. For example, the antigen-binding domain may bind to ROR-1, Typr-1 or BCMA.
The CAR-forming polypeptide may comprise an element capable of forming a bridge with
another CAR.
P106296PCT
For example, the element may be capable of forming a di-sulphide bridge with another CAR
which contains such an element.
The second aspect of the invention relates to multimeric CARs which form due to interactions
between the coiled-coil spacer domains or CAR-forming polypeptide(s) and/or accessory
polypeptide(s).
In a first embodiment of the second aspect the present invention provides a multimeric
chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) comprising a plurality of CAR-forming polypeptides as
defined above.
In a second embodiment of the second aspect of the invention there is provided a multimeric
chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) comprising one or more CAR-forming polypeptides and one
or more accessory polypeptides as defined above.
.
The CAR-forming polypeptide(s) and/or accessory polypeptide(s) in a multimeric CAR may
comprise different endodomains.
If the multimeric CAR comprises two or more CAR-forming polypeptides, they may have
different antigen-binding domains, for example antigen-binding domains with different binding
specificities.
One of the endodomains of the CAR-forming polypeptide and the accessory polypeptide may
comprise a CD3 zeta endodomain and the other endodomain of the CAR-forming polypeptide
and the accessory polypeptide may comprise a 41BB endodomain. Where there are two
accessory polypeptides, one may comprise the 41BB endodomain and the other may
comprise the CD28 endodomain.
The multimeric CAR may, for example, be dimeric, trimeric, tetrameric, pentameric, hexameric
or heptameric.
A pentameric CAR may comprise any of the following combinations of CAR-forming
polypeptide and accessory polypeptide chains:
CAR-forming Accessory
polypeptide polypeptide
P106296PCT
Where a multimeric CAR comprises first and second CAR-forming polypeptides according to
the first aspect of the invention, the antigen-binding domain of the first CAR may bind to a
different epitope than the antigen-binding domain of the second CAR.
In this embodiment, the antigen-binding domain of the first CAR may bind to a different antigen
than the antigen-binding domain of the second CAR.
The present invention also provides an engaged complex which comprises at least two
multimeric CARs according to the second aspect of the invention, wherein a first CAR on a
first multimeric CAR forms a bridge with a second CAR on a second multimeric CAR, such
that the first and second multimeric CARs engage to form a complex.
The bridge may be a disulphide bridge or an additional coiled coil structure.
In a third aspect the present invention provides a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) signalling
system, which comprises:
(i) a multimeric CAR comprising a CAR-forming polypeptide or accessory polypeptide as
defined above which comprises a first heterodimerization domain; and
(ii) an intracellular signalling component comprising a signalling domain and a second
heterodimerization domain;
wherein heterodimerization between the first and second heterodimerization domains causes
the multimeric CAR and signalling component to form a functional CAR complex.
The or each CAR-forming polypeptide(s) or accessory polypeptide(s) may comprise a plurality
of heterodimerisation domains, such that a single CAR-forming polypeptide or accessory
polypeptide is capable of heterodimerising with a plurality of signalling components.
P106296PCT
The signalling component of a CAR signalling system may comprise a plurality of signalling
domains.
In a fourth aspect the present invention provides a nucleic acid which encodes a CAR-forming
polypeptide according to the first aspect of the invention and/or an accessory polypeptide as
defined above.
The fifth aspect of the invention relates to nucleic acid constructs which comprise two or more
nucleic acid sequences.
In a first embodiment of the fifth aspect of the invention there is provided a nucleic acid
construct which encodes two or more CAR forming polypeptides according to the first aspect
of the invention.
In a second embodiment of the fifth aspect of the invention there is provided a nucleic acid
construct which encodes at least one CAR-forming polypeptide and at least one accessory
polypeptide as defined above.
In a first embodiment of the fifth aspect of the invention there is provided a nucleic acid
construct which encodes:
(i) at least one CAR-forming polypeptide according to the first aspect of the invention, which
forms a multimeric CAR according to the second aspect of the invention; and
(ii) an intracellular signalling component as defined in relation to the fifth aspect of the
invention.
In a sixth aspect the present invention provides a vector which comprises a nucleic acid
sequence according to the fourth aspect of the invention or a nucleic acid construct according
to the fifth aspect of the invention.
The vector may be, for example, a retroviral vector or a lentiviral vector or a transposon.
In a seventh aspect the present invention provides a cell which expresses a CAR-forming
polypeptide or accessory polypeptide according to the first aspect of the invention, a
multimeric CAR according the second aspect of the present invention, a CAR signalling
system according to the third aspect of the invention; or an engaged complex as defined
above.
P106296PCT
The cell may be a T cell or NK cell.
In an eighth aspect the present invention provides a pharmaceutical composition which
comprises a cell according to the seventh aspect of the invention.
In a ninth aspect the present invention relates to a cell according to the seventh aspect of the
invention for use in treating a disease.
In a tenth aspect the present invention relates to the use of a cell according to the seventh
aspect of the invention in the manufacture of a medicament for treating a disease.
In an eleventh aspect the present invention relates to a method for treating a disease which
comprises the step of administering a cell according to the seventh aspect of the invention to
a subject.
The disease may be cancer, for example Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), melanoma or
myeloma.
In a twelfth aspect the present invention relates to a kit which comprises a nucleic acid
according to fourth aspect of the invention, a nucleic acid construct according to the fifth aspect
of the invention or a vector according to the sixth aspect of the present invention.
In a thirteenth aspect the present invention provides a kit which comprises a cell according to
the seventh aspect of the invention.
In a fourteenth aspect the present invention relates to a method for making a cell according to
the seventh aspect of the invention, which comprises the step of introducing a nucleic acid
according to fourth aspect of the invention, a nucleic acid construct according to the fifth aspect
of the invention or a vector according to the sixth aspect of the present invention.
The cell may be from a sample isolated from a subject.
The use of a coiled coil domain as a spacer in a CAR provides a number of advantages over
spacers which have been used previously, such as Fc domains derived from IgG.
For example, the use of a coiled coil domain enables the spacer dimensions to be altered in
0.15nm increments. The addition or subtraction of individual amino acids or a number of
P106296PCT
amino acids means that the size of the coiled coil spacer can be incrementally altered. In
contrast, the use of IgG spacers only allows the addition or removal of whole immunoglobulin
domains. This means that the lowest increment of change is ~4nm (i.e. the size of a folded
immunoglobulin domain).
Coiled coil domains are coded by a smaller DNA fragment (e.g ~100 nucleotides) compared
to the Fc domain derived from IgG (~700 nucleotides). This allows for a smaller DNA vector
which is important for improving viral titre and transduction efficiency.
The use of a coiled coil spacer allows a selection from a large number of coiled coil spacers
that will not cross-hybridize with other coiled coil domains. This is in contrast with other
spacers where there are a more limited numbers of spacer options.
The use of a coiled coil spacer also much greater flexibility in terms of CAR design than a
classical CAR. For example, it allows the formation of homo- or hetero-oligomeric CAR
complexes. Hetero-oligomeric CAR complexes are useful when engineering multi-chain
CARs with CD28/OX40/41BB and TCRz endodomains in order to ensure that each of the
endodomains is located with optimal proximity to the membrane and present at the desired
ratios.
The present inventors have engineered a hyper-sensitive CAR without changing the
biophysical properties of the binder domain. This is desirable because methods to reduce the
affinity of CAR binders are unpredictable and often have uncharacterised specificity.
The hyper-sensitive CAR is provided by increasing the valency of the CAR. In particular, the
use of a coiled coil spacer domain which is capable of interacting to form a multimer comprising
more than two CARs increases the sensitivity to targets expressing low density ligands due to
the increase in ITAMs and avidity to the oligomeric CAR complex.
Sensitivity may be increased by increasing the ratio of coil-signal to scFv-coil, so each scFv is
attached to many signaling elements (see Figure 10c). Sensitivity may also me increased via
the formation of complexes of multimeric CARs (Figure 10f).
In a multimeric CAR of the invention, the signaling endodomains are provided in trans in a
membrane proximal location, enabling fine tuning of the T-cell signalling domain combinations
(Figure 10 a and b); and the incorporation of more than three distinct intracellular signalling
P106296PCT
domains (Figure 10d) so that the structure includes more endodomain signals than a third
generation CAR (Figure 1d).
The use of a separate intracellular signalling component molecule which heterodimerizes with
the CAR intracellularly enables the further amplification on the number of endodomains per
antigen binding domain, producing a “superCAR” (Figure 15).
A multimeric CAR of the invention may comprise more than one antigen-binding specificity,
enabling a plurality of epitopes or antigens to be targeted (Figure 10e).
A multimeric CAR having a plurality of binding domains will have much greater avidity than a
classical homodimeric CAR. This can be important, for example for binding domains with low
affinity, as the accumulated strength of multiple affinities provides high specificity binding. A
multimeric CAR may bind antigen in a fashion analogous to IgM, which comprises multiple
immunoglobulins covalently linked to form a pentameric or hexameric structure,
DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
Figure 1 - a) Schematic diagram illustrating a classical CAR. (b) to (d): Different generations
and permutations of CAR endodomains: (b) initial designs transmitted ITAM signals alone
through FcεR1-γ or CD3ζ endodomain, while later designs transmitted additional (c) one or
(d) two co-stimulatory signals in the same compound endodomain.
Figure 2 - a) Schematic diagram illustrating a classical CAR. b) Schematic diagram illustrating
common CAR spacers. “S” denotes disulfide bonds.
Figure 3 - Naturally occurring dimeric, trimeric and tetrameric coiled coil structures (modified
from Andrei N. Lupas and Markus Gruber; Adv Protein Chem. 2005;70:37-78)
Figure 4 - Crystal structure of the pentameric coiled coil motif from collagen oligomeric matrix
protein (COMP) and human IgG1. Individual chains are depicted with different colours. The
coiled coil COMP structure is displayed from the N-terminus with the C-terminus extending
into the page and also displayed from the profile with the C-terminus left to the N-terminus
right. The human IgG1 is displayed from the profile with the N- terminus (top) to C-terminus
(bottom).
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Figure 5 - Coiled coil spacer CAR. a) Schematic diagram illustrating a CAR with a pentameric
coiled coil spacer derived from COMP. b) Construct map displaying the ORF of the COMP
CARs and control CARs. c) Amino acid sequence of the ORF of the anti-CD33 COMP CAR
and anti-ROR-1 COMP CAR. d) DNA sequence of the ORF of the anti-CD33 COMP CAR and
anti-ROR-1 COMP CAR.
Figure 6 - Coiled coil CAR surface expression levels. a) A murine T-cell line was transduced
with the anti-CD33 COMP CAR or anti-CD33 IgG1 CAR. These cells were then stained with
chimeric soluble CD33 fused to murine Fc IgG2a before a secondary stain with anti-mouse
IgG PE. b) A murine T-cell line was transduced with the anti-ROR-1 COMP CAR or anti-ROR-
1 IgG1 CAR. These cells were then stained with soluble His tagged ROR-1 followed by a
secondary stain with anti-His-biotin and then a third stain with streptavidin-APC.
Figure 7 - Stimulation of anti-ROR-1 COMP CAR T-cells with immobilised ligand. Transduced
murine T-cells were co-cultured with anti-His beads that were pre-coated with different
concentrations of soluble His tagged ROR-1 supernatant. The amount of IL-2 in the co-culture
supernatant was analysed after 16-24 hours via ELISA.
Figure 8 - Expression levels of ROR-1 on target cells. The SKW cell line naturally expresses
low levels of ROR-1. These cells were transduced with ROR-1 to increase the expression
levels. These cells were stained with anti-ROR-1 APC and compared to non-stained cells.
Figure 9 - Stimulation of anti-ROR-1 COMP CAR T-cells with ROR-1 positive SKW cells.
Transduced murine T-cells were co-cultured with SKW target cells that express the ROR-1
ligand at low or high density. T-cells were maintained at a constant number and the number
of target cells was varied. The amount of IL-2 in the co-culture supernatant was analysed after
16-24 hours via ELISA. The grey shaded region denotes the standard curve range for that
experiment. The dotted blue line is the average IL-2 secretion from PMA and Ionomycin
stimulation. The red dotted line is the average IL-2 detected from cultures of just T-cells (non-
stimulated).
Figure 10 – Coiled coil CAR designs. a) Schematic diagram illustrating a CAR made up of a
CAR-forming polypeptide and an accessory polypeptide. The CAR-forming polypeptide
provides signal one to the T-cell and consists of a scFv binder on the N-terminus followed by
a COMP spacer, transmembrane and TCRz. The accessory polypeptide provides signal three
to the T-cell and consists of no N-terminal ligand binder but begins with the COMP spacer
followed by a transmembrane and the signalling motif of 41BB; b) Schematic diagram
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illustrating another coiled coil CAR system which includes a CAR-forming polypeptide and two
accessory polypeptides. The CAR-forming polypeptide provides signal one to the T-cell and
consists of a scFv binder on the N-terminus followed by a COMP spacer, transmembrane and
TCRz. The first accessory polypeptide provides signal two to the T-cell and consists of no N-
terminal ligand binder but begins with the COMP spacer followed by a transmembrane and
the signalling motif of CD28. The second accessory polypeptide provides signal three to the
T-cell and consists of no N-terminal ligand binder but begins with the COMP spacer followed
by a transmembrane and the signalling motif of 41BB. “S” denotes disulfide bonds. This
arrangement allows the signalling endodomains to be in trans in a membrane-proximal
location, leading to better signalling; c) Schematic diagram illustrating another coiled coil CAR
system in which the ratio of scFv:coil is much less than that of coil:signal, so each scFv is
attached to may signalling elements. This is an amplification system: by limiting the scFv to
one per complex, each engaged ligand will signal through 5 TCRz chains (two ligands through
10TCRz). This is as opposed to the traditional dimeric CARs where two ligands signal through
2TCRz chains. This system will essentially increase triggering power by 5 fold; d) Schematic
diagram illustrating another coiled coil CAR system which comprises more endodomains than
a third generation CAR. The coiled coil spacer enables the introduction of two additional
signalling domains (“EXTRA”) over and above a traditional third generation CAR; e) Schematic
diagram illustrating another coiled coil CAR signalling system which comprises multiple targets
(here two target-binding specificities are shown: one which binds ligand A and one which binds
ligand B). This arrangement is an alternative architecture for a TanCAR; f) Schematic diagram
illustrating another coiled coil CAR sysytem which comprises an element which forms a link
such a bridging di-sulphides with another coiled-coil spacer CAR giving an engaged complex
which further increases the valency of the scFv:signalling domain. Like the arrangement
shown in Figure 10c), this is an amplification system. Each engaged complex will signal
through 10 TCRz chains. As opposed to the traditional dimeric CARs that signal through 2
TCRz chains. This system will essentially increase triggering power by 5 fold. Replacing the
IgG hinge with a trimeric coiled coil structure would increase this to just short of 8 fold, whereas
a tetrameric coiled coil would increase it by 10 fold.
Figure 11 – Truncation of the COMP spacer
a) schematic diagram showing the anti-ROR-1 COMP CAR, the COMP spacer was truncated
from the N-terminus from 45 amino acids to “x” amino acids
b) 293T cells were transfected with the truncated constructs and analysed by FACS.
Figure 12 – Schematic diagram showing the multimeric and classical CARs tested in Example
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A) a heteromultimeric CAR which comprises: a polypeptide having an anti-CD19 antigen
binding domain; a coiled-coil spacer domain and a CD3zeta endodomain; and an accessory
polypeptide having a coiled-coil spacer domain and a 41BB endodomain. The CAR is
encoded by a bicistronic construct having the structure: aCD19fmc63-COMP-CD28tmZ-2A-
COMP-CD28tm-41BB. In this CAR structure, the 41BB and TCRzeta signalling motifs are in
parallel.
B) a homomutimeric CAR made up of polypeptides comprising an anti-CD19 antigen binding
domain; a coiled-coil spacer domain and a combined 41BB/CD3zeta endodomain. The CAR
is encoded by a construct having the structure: aCD19fmc63-COMP-CD8TM-41BB-Z. In this
CAR structure, the 41BB and TCRzeta signalling motifs are in sequential order.
C) a classical second generation homodimeric CAR which comprises two polypeptides having
an anti-CD19 antigen-binding domain, a CD8 stalk spacer domain and a combined
41BB/CD3zeta endodomain. The CAR is encoded by a bicistronic construct which also
encodes the suicide gene RQR8. The construct has the structure: RQR8-2A-aCD19fmc63-
CD8STK-41BBZ.
Figure 13 – Killing of CD19+ SupT1 target cells by the CARs shown in Figure 12 at day 2.
Figure 14 - Killing of CD19+ SupT1 target cells by the CARs shown in Figure 12 at day 5.
Figure 15 – Schematic diagram of the Coiled-coil SuperCAR constructs tested in Example 7:
aCD19-IgGFc-Z – a classical homodimeric CAR comprising 2 TCRz molecules per molecule,
having the fmc63 aCD19 binder.
A coiled coil SuperCAR made up of five polypeptides each comprising four separate AD1
domains. The coiled-coil SuperCAR therefore comprises 20 AD1 domains.
COMP_x4AD1 – the coiled-coil SuperCAR was tested in combination with a signalling
component having 0 copies of the TCR zeta signalling domain. This was used as a negative
control.
COMP_x4AD1 + Z-DDD1-Z - the coiled-coil SuperCAR was tested in combination with a
signalling component having 2 copies of the TCR zeta signalling domain. As DDD1 binds AD1
in a 2:1 stoichiometry, this signalling domains gives 80 copies of the TCR zeta domain for
each 5-polypeptide coiled-coil CAR targeting component.
Figure 16 – IL2 release following challenge with target cells expressing the cognate antigen
(CD19) at different concentrations: low, mid and high.
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DETAILED DESCRIPTION
CHIMERIC ANTIGEN RECEPTORS (CARs)
Classical CARs, which are shown schematically in Figure 1, are chimeric type I trans-
membrane proteins which connect an extracellular antigen-recognizing domain (binder) to an
intracellular signalling domain (endodomain). The binder is typically a single-chain variable
fragment (scFv) derived from a monoclonal antibody (mAb), but it can be based on other
formats which comprise an antibody-like or ligand-based antigen binding site. A trans-
membrane domain anchors the protein in the cell membrane and connects the spacer to the
endodomain.
Early CAR designs had endodomains derived from the intracellular parts of either the γ chain
of the FcεR1 or CD3ζ. Consequently, these first generation receptors transmitted
immunological signal 1, which was sufficient to trigger T-cell killing of cognate target cells but
failed to fully activate the T-cell to proliferate and survive. To overcome this limitation,
compound endodomains have been constructed: fusion of the intracellular part of a T-cell co-
stimulatory molecule to that of CD3ζ results in second generation receptors which can transmit
an activating and co-stimulatory signal simultaneously after antigen recognition. The co-
stimulatory domain most commonly used is that of CD28. This supplies the most potent co-
stimulatory signal - namely immunological signal 2, which triggers T-cell proliferation. Some
receptors have also been described which include TNF receptor family endodomains, such as
the closely related OX40 and 41BB which transmit survival signals. Even more potent third
generation CARs have now been described which have endodomains capable of transmitting
activation, proliferation and survival signals.
CAR-encoding nucleic acids may be transferred to T cells using, for example, retroviral
vectors. In this way, a large number of antigen-specific T cells can be generated for adoptive
cell transfer. When the CAR binds the target-antigen, this results in the transmission of an
activating signal to the T-cell it is expressed on. Thus the CAR directs the specificity and
cytotoxicity of the T cell towards cells expressing the targeted antigen.
The present CAR comprises an antigen-binding domain, a coiled-coil spacer domain, a
transmembrane domain and an endodomain. The coiled-coil spacer domain provides
numerous advantages over the spacers previously described in the art.
COILED COIL DOMAIN
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CARs typically comprise a spacer sequence to connect the antigen-binding domain with the
transmembrane domain. The spacer allows the antigen-binding domain to have a suitable
orientation and reach. The spacer also provides segregation from phosphatases upon ligand
engagement.
The CAR of the present invention comprises a coiled coil spacer domain.
A coiled coil is a structural motif in which two to seven alpha-helices are wrapped together like
the strands of a rope (Figure 3). Many endogenous proteins incorporate coiled coil domains.
The coiled coil domain may be involved in protein folding (e.g. it interacts with several alpha
helical motifs within the same protein chain) or responsible for protein-protein interaction. In
the latter case, the coiled coil can initiate homo or hetero oligomer structures.
As used herein, the terms ‘multimer’ and ‘multimerization’ are synonymous and
interchangeable with ‘oligomer’ and ‘oligomerization’.
The structure of coiled coil domains is well known in the art. For example as described by
Lupas & Gruber (Advances in Protein Chemistry; 2007; 70; 37-38).
Coiled coils usually contain a repeated pattern, hxxhcxc, of hydrophobic (h) and charged (c)
amino-acid residues, referred to as a heptad repeat. The positions in the heptad repeat are
usually labeled abcdefg, where a and d are the hydrophobic positions, often being occupied
by isoleucine, leucine, or valine. Folding a sequence with this repeating pattern into an alpha-
helical secondary structure causes the hydrophobic residues to be presented as a 'stripe' that
coils gently around the helix in left-handed fashion, forming an amphipathic structure. The
most favourable way for two such helices to arrange themselves in the cytoplasm is to wrap
the hydrophobic strands against each other sandwiched between the hydrophilic amino acids.
Thus, it is the burial of hydrophobic surfaces that provides the thermodynamic driving force for
the oligomerization. The packing in a coiled-coil interface is exceptionally tight, with almost
complete van der Waals contact between the side-chains of the a and d residues.
The α-helices may be parallel or anti-parallel, and usually adopt a left-handed super-coil.
Although disfavoured, a few right-handed coiled coils have also been observed in nature and
in designed proteins.
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The coiled coil domain may be any coiled coil domain which is capable of forming a coiled coil
multimer such that a complex of CARs or accessory polypeptides comprising the coiled coil
domain is formed.
The relationship between the sequence and the final folded structure of a coiled coil domain
are well understood in the art (Mahrenholz et al; Molecular & Cellular Proteomics; 2011;
(5):M110.004994). As such the coiled coil domain may be a synthetically generated coiled
coil domain.
Examples of proteins which contain a coiled coil domain include, but are not limited to, kinesin
motor protein, hepatitis D delta antigen, archaeal box C/D sRNP core protein, cartilage-
oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), mannose-binding protein A, coiled-coil serine-rich protein
1, polypeptide release factor 2, SNAP-25, SNARE, Lac repressor or apolipoprotein E.
The sequence of various coiled coil domains is shown below:
Kinesin motor protein: parallel homodimer (SEQ ID No. 30)
MHAALSTEVVHLRQRTEELLRCNEQQAAELETCKEQLFQSNMERKELHNTVMDLRGN
Hepatitis D delta antigen: parallel homodimer (SEQ ID No. 31)
GREDILEQWVSGRKKLEELERDLRKLKKKIKKLEEDNPWLGNIKGIIGKY
Archaeal box C/D sRNP core protein: anti-parallel heterodimer (SEQ ID No. 32)
RYVVALVKALEEIDESINMLNEKLEDIRAVKESEITEKFEKKIRELRELRRDVEREIEEVM
Mannose-binding protein A: parallel homotrimer (SEQ ID No. 33)
AIEVKLANMEAEINTLKSKLELTNKLHAFSM
Coiled-coil serine-rich protein 1: parallel homotrimer (SEQ ID No. 34)
EWEALEKKLAALESKLQALEKKLEALEHG
Polypeptide release factor 2: anti-parallel heterotrimer
Chain A: INPVNNRIQDLTERSDVLRGYLDY (SEQ ID No. 35)
Chain B: VVDTLDQMKQGLEDVSGLLELAVEADDEETFNEAVAELDALEEKLAQLEFR (SEQ
ID No. 36)
SNAP-25 and SNARE: parallel heterotetramer
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Chain A: IETRHSEIIKLENSIRELHDMFMDMAMLVESQGEMIDRIEYNVEHAVDYVE (SEQ ID
No. 37)
Chain B: ALSEIETRHSEIIKLENSIRELHDMFMDMAMLVESQGEMIDRIEYNVEHAVDYVERA
VSDTKKAVKY (SEQ ID No. 38)
Chain C: ELEEMQRRADQLADESLESTRRMLQLVEESKDAGIRTLVMLDEQGEQLERIEE
GMDQINKDMKEAEKNL (SEQ ID No. 39)
Chain D: IETRHSEIIKLENSIRELHDMFMDMAMLVESQGEMIDRIEYNVEHAVDYVE (SEQ ID
No. 40)
Lac repressor: parallel homotetramer
SPRALADSLMQLARQVSRLE (SEQ ID No. 41)
Apolipoprotein E: anti-parallel heterotetramer
SGQRWELALGRFWDYLRWVQTLSEQVQEELLSSQVTQELRALMDETMKELKAYKSELEE
QLTARLSKELQAAQARLGADMEDVCGRLVQYRGEVQAMLGQSTEELRVRLASHLRKLRKR
LLRDADDLQKRLAVYQA (SEQ ID No. 42)
The coiled coil domain is capable of oligomerization. In certain embodiments, the coiled coil
domain may be capable of forming a trimer, a tetramer, a pentamer, a hexamer or a heptamer.
A coiled-coil domain is different from a leucine zipper. Leucine zippers are super-secondary
structures that function as a dimerization domains. Their presence generates adhesion forces
in parallel alpha helices. A single leucine zipper consists of multiple leucine residues at
approximately 7-residue intervals, which forms an amphipathic alpha helix with a hydrophobic
region running along one side. This hydrophobic region provides an area for dimerization,
allowing the motifs to "zip" together. Leucine zippers are typically 20 to 40 amino acids in
length, for example approximately 30 amino acids.
Leucine zippers are typically formed by two different sequences, for example an acidic leucine
zipper heterodimerizes with a basic leucine zipper. An example of a leucine zipper is the
docking domain (DDD1) and anchoring domain (AD1) which are described in more detail
below.
Leucine zippers form dimers, whereas the coiled-coiled spacers of the present invention for
multimers (trimers and above). Leucine zippers heterodimerise in the dimerization potion of
the sequence, whereas coiled-coil domains homodimerise.
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In one embodiment, the present invention provides a hyper-sensitive CAR.
The hyper-sensitive CAR is provided by increasing the valency of the CAR. In particular, the
use of a coiled coil spacer domain which is capable of interacting to form a multimer comprising
more than two coiled coil domains, and therefore more than two CARs, increases the
sensitivity to targets expressing low density ligands due to increasing the number of ITAMs
present and avidity of the oligomeric CAR complex.
Thus in one embodiment the present CAR-forming polypeptide comprises a coiled coil spacer
domain which enables the multimerization of at least three CAR-forming polypeptidess. In
other words, the CAR comprises a coiled coil domain which is capable of forming a trimer, a
tetramer, a pentamer, a hexamer or a heptamer of coiled coil domains.
Examples of coiled coil domains which are capable of forming multimers comprising more than
two coiled coil domains include, but are not limited to, those from cartilage-oligomeric matrix
protein (COMP), mannose-binding protein A, coiled-coil serine-rich protein 1, polypeptide
release factor 2, SNAP-25, SNARE, Lac repressor or apolipoprotein E (see SEQ ID Nos. 30-
42 above).
The coiled coil domain may be the COMP coiled coil domain.
COMP is one of the most stable protein complexes in nature (stable from 0°C-100°C and a
wide range of pH) and can only be denatured with 4-6M guanidine hydrochloride. The COMP
coiled coil domain is capable of forming a pentamer. COMP is also an endogenously
expressed protein that is naturally expressed in the extracellular space. This reduces the risk
of immunogenicity compared to synthetic spacers. Furthermore, the crystal structure of the
COMP coiled coil motif has been solved which gives an accurate estimation on the spacer
length (Figure 4). The COMP structure is ~5.6nm in length (compared to the hinge and
CH2CH3 domains from human IgG which is ~8.1nm).
The coiled coil domain may consist of or comprise the sequence shown as SEQ ID No. 1 or a
fragment thereof.
SEQ ID No. 1
DLGPQMLRELQETNAALQDVRELLRQQVREITFLKNTVMECDACG
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As shown in Figure 11, it is possible to truncate the COMP coiled-coil domain at the N-terminus
and retain surface expression. The coiled-coil domain may therefore comprise or consist of a
truncated version of SEQ ID No. 1, which is truncated at the N-terminus. The truncated COMP
may comprise the 5 C-terminal amino acids of SEQ ID No. 1, i.e. the sequence CDACG. The
truncated COMP may comprise 5 to 44 amino acids, for example, at least 5, 10, 15, 20, 25,
, 35 or 40 amino acids. The truncated COMP may correspond to the C-terminus of SEQ ID
No. 1. For example a truncated COMP comprising 20 amino acids may comprise the
sequences QQVREITFLKNTVMECDACG. Truncated COMP may retain the cysteine
residue(s) involved in multimerisation. Truncated COMP may retain the capacity to form
multimers.
Various coiled coil domains are known which form hexamers such as gp41dervived from HIV,
and an artificial protein designed hexamer coiled coil described by N. Zaccai et al. (2011)
Nature Chem. Bio., (7) 935-941). A mutant form of the GCN4-p1 leucine zipper forms a
heptameric coiled-coil structure (J. Liu. et al., (2006) PNAS (103) 15457–15462).
The coiled coil domain may comprise a variant of one of the coiled coil domains described
above, providing that the variant sequence retains the capacity to form a coiled coil oligomer.
For example, the coiled coil domain may comprise a variant of the sequence shown as SEQ
ID No. 1 or 30 to 42 having at least 80, 85, 90, 95, 98 or 99% sequence identity, providing that
the variant sequence retains the capacity to form a coiled coil oligomer.
The percentage identity between two polypeptide sequences may be readily determined by
programs such as BLAST which is freely available at http://blast.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.
ANTIGEN BINDING DOMAIN
The antigen-binding domain is the portion of a classical CAR which recognizes antigen.
Numerous antigen-binding domains are known in the art, including those based on the antigen
binding site of an antibody, antibody mimetics, and T-cell receptors. For example, the antigen-
binding domain may comprise: a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) derived from a
monoclonal antibody; a natural ligand of the target antigen; a peptide with sufficient affinity for
the target; a single domain binder such as a camelid; an artificial binder single as a Darpin; or
a single-chain derived from a T-cell receptor.
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Various tumour associated antigens (TAA) are known, as shown in the following Table 1. The
antigen-binding domain used in the present invention may be a domain which is capable of
binding a TAA as indicated therein.
Table 1
Cancer type TAA
Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma CD19, CD20, CD22
Breast cancer ErbB2, MUC1
AML CD13, CD33
Neuroblastoma GD2, NCAM, ALK, GD2
B-CLL CD19, CD52, CD160
Colorectal cancer Folate binding protein, CA-125
Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia CD5, CD19
Glioma EGFR, Vimentin
Multiple myeloma BCMA, CD138
Renal Cell Carcinoma Carbonic anhydrase IX, G250
Prostate cancer PSMA
Bowel cancer A33
In certain embodiments, the present invention provides a hyper-sensitive CAR which is
capable of stimulating cell activation in response to antigen which is expressed on a target cell
at a low density.
The antigen binding domain may bind a TAA which is expressed on a cell, for example a
cancer cell, at a low density. A TAA expressed at low density may refer, for example, to a
TAA expressed at a level of 10s to 1000s molecules per cell.
Examples of TAAs which are known to be expressed at low densities in certain cancers
include, but are not limited to, ROR1 in CLL, Typr-1 in melanoma and BCMA in myeloma.
Antigen-binding domains (such as scFvs or mAbs) which bind these TAAs have previously
been described, for example as shown in the following table:
Tumour-associated Antigen-binding domain Reference
antigen
ROR-1 2A2, 2D11 S. Baskar et al., Landes
Bioscience, vol. 4, (3) 349–
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361), R12, R11, Y31 (J.
Yang et al., PLOSone, vol. 6,
(6), e21018, 2011
Tyrp-1 TA99 P. Boross et al., Immunology
Letters, vol. 160, (2), 151-
157, 2014
BCMA C12A3.2 and C11D5.3 R. Carpenter et al., Clin
Cancer Res., vol. 19, (8)
2048–2060, 2013), J6M0 (Y.
Tai et al., Blood, vol 123,
(20), 3128-3138, 2014
TRANSMEMBRANE DOMAIN
The transmembrane domain is the sequence of a CAR that spans the membrane. It may
comprise a hydrophobic alpha helix. The transmembrane domain may be derived from CD28,
which gives good receptor stability.
SIGNAL PEPTIDE
The CAR-forming polypeptides and/or accessory polypeptides of the present invention may
comprise a signal peptide so that when it is expressed in a cell, such as a T-cell, the nascent
protein is directed to the endoplasmic reticulum and subsequently to the cell surface, where it
is expressed.
The core of the signal peptide may contain a long stretch of hydrophobic amino acids that has
a tendency to form a single alpha-helix. The signal peptide may begin with a short positively
charged stretch of amino acids, which helps to enforce proper topology of the polypeptide
during translocation. At the end of the signal peptide there is typically a stretch of amino acids
that is recognized and cleaved by signal peptidase. Signal peptidase may cleave either during
or after completion of translocation to generate a free signal peptide and a mature protein.
The free signal peptides are then digested by specific proteases.
The signal peptide may be at the amino terminus of the molecule.
The signal peptide may comprise the sequence shown as SEQ ID No. 2, 3 or 4 or a variant
thereof having 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 amino acid mutations (insertions, substitutions or additions)
provided that the signal peptide still functions to cause cell surface expression of the CAR.
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SEQ ID No. 2: MGTSLLCWMALCLLGADHADG
The signal peptide of SEQ ID No. 2 is compact and highly efficient and is derived from TCR
beta chain. It is predicted to give about 95% cleavage after the terminal glycine, giving efficient
removal by signal peptidase.
SEQ ID No. 3: MSLPVTALLLPLALLLHAARP
The signal peptide of SEQ ID No. 3 is derived from IgG1.
SEQ ID No. 4: MAVPTQVLGLLLLWLTDARC
The signal peptide of SEQ ID No. 4 is derived from CD8a.
ENDODOMAIN
The endodomain is the portion of a classical CAR which is located on the intracellular side of
the membrane.
The endodomain is the signal-transmission portion of a classical CAR. After antigen
recognition by the antigen binding domain, individual CAR molecules cluster, native CD45 and
CD148 are excluded from the synapse and a signal is transmitted to the cell.
The endodomain of a coiled-coil spacer CAR may be or comprise an intracellular signalling
domain. In an alternative embodiment, the endodomain of the present CAR may be capable
of interacting with an intracellular signalling molecule which is present in the cytoplasm,
leading to signalling.
The intracellular signalling domain or separate intracellular signalling molecule may be or
comprise a T cell signalling domain.
The most commonly used signalling domain is that of CD3-zeta endodomain, which contains
3 ITAMs. This transmits an activation signal to the T cell after antigen is bound. CD3-zeta
may not provide a fully competent activation signal and additional co-stimulatory signalling
may be needed. For example, chimeric CD28 and OX40 can be used with CD3-Zeta to
transmit a proliferative / survival signal, or all three can be used together (illustrated in Figure
1B).
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The present CAR may comprise the CD3-Zeta endodomain alone, the CD3-Zeta endodomain
with that of either CD28 or OX40 or the CD28 endodomain and OX40 and CD3-Zeta
endodomain (Figure 1).
The endodomain may comprise one or more of the following: an ICOS endodomain, a CD27
endodomain, a BTLA endodomain, a CD30 endodomain, a GITR endodomain and an HVEM
endodomain.
The endomain may comprise the sequence shown as SEQ ID No. 5 to 13 or a variant thereof
having at least 80% sequence identity.
SEQ ID No. 5 - CD3 Z endodomain
RVKFSRSADAPAYQQGQNQLYNELNLGRREEYDVLDKRRGRDPEMGGKPRRKNPQEGL
YNELQKDKMAEAYSEIGMKGERRRGKGHDGLYQGLSTATKDTYDALHMQALPPR
SEQ ID No. 6 - CD28 and CD3 Zeta endodomains
SKRSRLLHSDYMNMTPRRPGPTRKHYQPYAPPRDFAAYRSRVKFSRSADAPAYQQGQNQ
LYNELNLGRREEYDVLDKRRGRDPEMGGKPRRKNPQEGLYNELQKDKMAEAYSEIGMKG
ERRRGKGHDGLYQGLSTATKDTYDALHMQALPPR
SEQ ID No. 7 - CD28, OX40 and CD3 Zeta endodomains
SKRSRLLHSDYMNMTPRRPGPTRKHYQPYAPPRDFAAYRSRDQRLPPDAHKPPGGGSFR
TPIQEEQADAHSTLAKIRVKFSRSADAPAYQQGQNQLYNELNLGRREEYDVLDKRRGRDP
EMGGKPRRKNPQEGLYNELQKDKMAEAYSEIGMKGERRRGKGHDGLYQGLSTATKDTYD
ALHMQALPPR
SEQ ID No. 8 - ICOS endodomain
CWLTKKKYSSSVHDPNGEYMFMRAVNTAKKSRLTDVTL
SEQ ID No. 9 - CD27 endodomain
QRRKYRSNKGESPVEPAEPCHYSCPREEEGSTIPIQEDYRKPEPACSP
SEQ ID No. 10 - BTLA endodomain
RRHQGKQNELSDTAGREINLVDAHLKSEQTEASTRQNSQVLLSETGIYDNDPDLCFRMQE
GSEVYSNPCLEENKPGIVYASLNHSVIGPNSRLARNVKEAPTEYASICVRS
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SEQ ID No. 11 - CD30 endodomain
HRRACRKRIRQKLHLCYPVQTSQPKLELVDSRPRRSSTQLRSGASVTEPVAEERGLMSQP
LMETCHSVGAAYLESLPLQDASPAGGPSSPRDLPEPRVSTEHTNNKIEKIYIMKADTVIVGT
VKAELPEGRGLAGPAEPELEEELEADHTPHYPEQETEPPLGSCSDVMLSVEEEGKEDPLPT
AASGK
SEQ ID No. 12 - GITR endodomain
QLGLHIWQLRSQCMWPRETQLLLEVPPSTEDARSCQFPEEERGERSAEEKGRLGDLWV
SEQ ID No. 13 - HVEM endodomain
CVKRRKPRGDVVKVIVSVQRKRQEAEGEATVIEALQAPPDVTTVAVEETIPSFTGRSPNH
A variant sequence may have at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98% or 99% sequence identity
to SEQ ID No. 5 to 13, provided that the sequence provides an effective intracellular signalling
domain.
CHIMERIC ANTIGEN RECEPTOR (CAR)
In one aspect the present invention provides a CAR comprising a CAR-forming polypeptide
according to the first aspect of the invention and an accessory polypeptide which comprises
(i) a coiled-coil spacer domain; (ii) a transmembrane domain; and (iii) an endodomain,
wherein the coiled-coil spacer domain of the accessory polypeptide is capable of interacting
with the coiled-coil domain of the CAR-forming polypeptide.
The CAR-forming polypeptide provides the antigen-binding domain and hence the antigen
specificity.
The accessory polypeptide provides an additional endodomain which may be used for
generating a desired signalling response. This is advantageous over a compound signalling
domain since each signalling domain remains unencumbered from other signalling domains.
In addition, it allows each signalling domain to be localised at an optimal proximity to the
membrane for signalling.
The endodomain of the CAR-forming polypeptide may comprise at least a first intracellular
signalling domain; and the endodomain of the accessory polypeptide may comprise at least a
second intracellular signalling domain. For example, one of the endodomain of the CAR-
forming polypeptide and the accessory polypeptide may comprise a CD3 zeta endodomain
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and the other endodomain of the CAR and the accessory polypeptide may comprise a 41BB
endodomain.
In another embodiment, the present invention provides a CAR according to the second aspect
of the present invention, further comprising a second accessory polypeptide comprising: (i) a
coiled-coil domain; (ii) a transmembrane domain; and (iii) an endodomain; wherein the
coiled-coil domain of the second accessory polypeptide is capable of interacting with the
coiled-coil domains of the CAR-forming polypeptide and the first accessory polypeptide.
The endodomain of the CAR-forming polypeptide may comprise at least a first intracellular
signalling domain, the endodomain of the first accessory polypeptide may comprise at least a
second intracellular signalling domain and the endodomain of the second accessory
polypeptide may comprise at least a third intracellular signalling domain.
For example, the endodomains of the CAR, the first accessory polypeptide and the second
accessory polypeptide may comprise between them a CD3 zeta endodomain; a 41BB
endodomain; and a CD28 endodomain.
The present invention also provides an accessory polypeptide suitable for use in a CAR as
described herein.
MULTIMERIC CAR
The present invention provides a multimeric CAR which comprises a plurality of CAR-forming
polypeptides according to the present invention and optionally accessory polypeptide(s) which
form a complex due to interactions between the coiled coil spacer domains.
The multimeric CAR may be, for example, trimeric, tetrameric, pentameric, hexameric or
heptameric.
The number of CAR-foring polypeptides vs accessory proteins in each type of CAR is
summarised in the Tables below:
Trimeric CAR:
Number of CAR- Number of accessory polypeptides
forming polypeptides
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Tetrameric CAR:
Number of CAR- Number of accessory polypeptides
forming polypeptides
Pentameric CAR:
Number of CAR- Number of accessory polypeptides
forming polypeptides
The association of CAR-forming polypeptides and accessory polypeptides within a cell will be
random, so the options given in the tables above may refer to a single multimeric CAR, in
which the number of CAR-forming polypeptides and accessory polypeptides can be precisely
defined, or the average number of CAR-forming polypeptides and accessory polypeptides in
multiplexed CARs expressed on a cell. In systems where there is a high accessory
polypeptide:CAR-forming polypeptide ratio, it is possible that some multiplexes of accessory
polypeptide alone will be expressed on the cell surface. This is not a problem, as long as at
least some of the multiplexes expressed at the cell surface comprise a CAR-foring
polypeptide.
The plurality of CAR-forming polypeptides and optionally accessory polypeptide(s) may
comprise the same endodomain.
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Alternatively, the plurality of CAR-foring polypeptides and optionally accessory polypeptide(s)
may comprise different endodomains. In this way, multiple different endodomains can be
activated simultaneously. This is advantageous over a compound signalling domain since
each signalling domain remains unencumbered from other signalling domains. In addition, it
allows each signalling domain to be localised at an optimal proximity to the membrane for
signalling.
Where a multimeric CAR comprises a plurality of antigen binding domains, this will increase
the avidity of antigen binding. The multimeric CAR may mimic antigen binding by IgM, which
comprises a pentameric or hexameric arrangement of immunoglobulins.
CAR SIGNALLING SYSTEM
The present invention also provides a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) signalling system,
which comprises:
(i) a multimeric CAR comprising a CAR-forming polypeptide or accessory polypeptide as
defined above which comprises a first heterodimerization domain; and
(ii) an intracellular signalling component comprising a signalling domain and a second
heterodimerization domain;
wherein heterodimerization between the first and second heterodimerization domains causes
the multimeric CAR and signalling component to form a functional CAR complex.
Each CAR-forming polypeptide(s) or accessory polypeptide(s) may comprise a plurality of
heterodimerisation domains, such that a single CAR-forming polypeptide or accessory
polypeptide is capable of heterodimerising with a plurality of signalling components. An
example of such a system is illustrated in Figure 15.
In order to increase the signalling domain: antigen-binding domain even further, each
signalling component may comprise a plurality of signalling domains.
Heterodimerisation may occur only in the presence of a small molecule, for example using a
system such as the one described in WO2016/030691.
Alternatively heterodimerization may occur spontaneously The first and second
heterodimerization domains are capable of spontaneous dimerization with each other.
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Heterodimerization occurs with the first and second heterodimerization domains alone, without
the need for any separate molecule acting as an “inducer” of dimerization.
The signalling system of the present invention is not limited by the arrangement of a specific
pair of heterodimerization domains. The targeting component (i.e. the multimeric CAR) may
comprise either domain from a pair of heterodimerizing domains so long as the signalling
component comprises the corresponding, complementary domain which enables the targeting
component and the signalling component to co-localize at the cell membrane.
The heterodimerization domains for use in the present CAR system are not limited to those
which interact at a 1:1 ratio. For example, heterodimerization domains may interact to form
multimers (e.g. trimers or tetramers). The domains may interact in a manner which co-
localises a single first heterodimerization domain with multiple (e.g. 2 or 3) second
heterodimerization domains. Herein it may be advantageous to have a signalling domain
which comprises the second heterodimerization domain, such that multiple signalling
components can co-localise with a single multimeric CAR. This may be advantageous, for
example, when a high level of signalling is required upon binding of antigen to the multimeric
CAR.
The multimeric CAR may comprise a plurality of heterodimerization domains, so that it
interacts with a plurality of signalling components. For example, the multimeric CAR may
comprise more than two heterodimerization domains, such a 3 to 10 heterodimerization
domains. Figure 15 shows a multimeric CAR which comprises 20 heterodimerization
domains, four per CAR-forming polypeptide/accessory polypeptide.
For convenience, the term heterodimerization domain is used herein for all domains which
mediate co-localization of the multimeric CAR and signalling components.
A large variety of appropriate heterodimerization domains are known in the art, examples of
which are provided herein.
The first and second heterodimerization domains may be leucine zippers.
Leucine zippers are well known in the art (see Hakoshima; Encyclopedia of Life Sciences;
2005, for example). The leucine zipper is a super-secondary structure that functions as a
dimerization domain. Its presence generates adhesion forces in parallel alpha helices. A
single leucine zipper consists of multiple leucine residues at approximately 7-residue intervals,
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which forms an amphipathic alpha helix with a hydrophobic region running along one side.
This hydrophobic region provides an area for dimerization, allowing the motifs to "zip" together.
Leucine zippers are typically 20 to 40 amino acids in length, for example approximately 30
amino acids.
The first and/or second heterodimerization domain may comprise the sequence shown as
SEQ ID NO: 43 or 44. The first heterodimerization domain may comprise the sequence
shown as SEQ ID NO: 43 and the second heterodimerization domain may comprise the
sequence shown as SEQ ID NO: 44, or vice versa.
SEQ ID NO: 43: QLEKELQALEKENAQLEWELQALEKELAQ
SEQ ID NO: 44: QLEKKLQALKKKNAQLKWKLQALKKKLAQ
In certain embodiments, the first and second heterodimerization domains may be acidic (e.g.
SEQ ID NO: 43) or basic (e.g. SEQ ID NO: 44) leucine zippers. In particular, where the first
heterodimerization domain is an acidic leucine zipper, the second heterodimerization is a basic
leucine zipper and vice versa.
The first and second heterodimerization domains may be dimerization and docking domain
(DDD1) and anchoring domain (AD1). These domains and the interaction between them is
known in the art (Rossi et al.; PNAS; 2006; 103(18); 6841-6846).
DDD1 is a short alpha helical structure derived from Protein Kinase A (PKA). AD1 is a short
alpha helical structure derived from A-kinase anchor proteins (AKAPs).
The DDD1 domain may comprise the sequence shown as SEQ ID NO: 45.
SEQ ID NO: 45: SHIQIPPGLTELLQGYTVEVLRQQPPDLVEFAVEYFTRLREARA
The AD1 domain may comprise the sequence shown as SEQ ID NO: 46
SEQ ID NO: 46: VQIEYLAKQIVDNAIQQA
Since the DDD1/AD1 interaction is trimeric, an AD1 domain present on the CAR endodomain
will recruit three signalling domains comprising a DDD1 domain. Thus in a particular
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embodiment, the CAR endodomain comprises an AD1 domain and the intracellular signalling
component comprises a DDD1 domain.
The heterodimerization domains may be derived from the Bacterial Ribonuclease (Barnase)
and Barnstar peptides.
Barnase is the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens ribonuclease protein. It is composed on 110 amino
acids. Barnstar functions to inhibit the nuclease activity of Barnase and therefore binds
Barnstar with a very high affinity (an on-rate of 108s−1M−1).
The heterodimerization domains may be derived from Human Pancreatic RNases and S-
peptide.
Human Pancreatic RNase are pyrimidine-specific endonucleases. S-peptide is the
enzymatically inactive proteolytic fragment of RNase A, which lacks the RNA binding site.
The present invention also encompasses variants of the heterodimerization sequences
described herein which retain the ability to dimerize with the corresponding heterodimerization
domain. The heterodimerization domain may be a variant having 5, 4, 3, 2 or 1 amino acid
mutations (insertions, substitutions or additions) or at least 80%, 85%, 90%, 95%, 98% or 99%
sequence identity compared to the sequence shown as SEQ ID No. 43, 44, 45 or 46 provided
that they still cause heterodimerization between the CAR and the signalling component.
NUCLEIC ACID
The present invention further provides a nucleic acid encoding the CAR-forming polypeptide
according to the first aspect of the present invention and/or an accessory polypeptide as
defined in the first aspect of the invention.
As used herein, the terms “polynucleotide”, “nucleotide”, and “nucleic acid” are intended to be
synonymous with each other.
It will be understood by a skilled person that numerous different polynucleotides and nucleic
acids can encode the same polypeptide as a result of the degeneracy of the genetic code. In
addition, it is to be understood that skilled persons may, using routine techniques, make
nucleotide substitutions that do not affect the polypeptide sequence encoded by the
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polynucleotides described here to reflect the codon usage of any particular host organism in
which the polypeptides are to be expressed.
Nucleic acids according to the invention may comprise DNA or RNA. They may be single-
stranded or double-stranded. They may also be polynucleotides which include within them
synthetic or modified nucleotides. A number of different types of modification to
oligonucleotides are known in the art. These include methylphosphonate and
phosphorothioate backbones, addition of acridine or polylysine chains at the 3' and/or 5' ends
of the molecule. For the purposes of the use as described herein, it is to be understood that
the polynucleotides may be modified by any method available in the art. Such modifications
may be carried out in order to enhance the in vivo activity or life span of polynucleotides of
interest.
The terms “variant”, “homologue” or “derivative” in relation to a nucleotide sequence include
any substitution of, variation of, modification of, replacement of, deletion of or addition of one
(or more) nucleic acid from or to the sequence.
The present invention also provides a nucleic acid sequence encoding an accessory
polypeptide suitable for use in the CAR according to the second aspect of the present
invention.
NUCLEIC ACID CONSTRUCT
The present invention also provides a nucleic acid construct which encodes a plurality of
nucleic acid sequences.
For example the nucleic acid construct may encode two or more CAR forming polypeptides
as defined in the first aspect of the invention.
In this embodiment, the nucleic acid construct may comprise at least two nucleic acid
sequences:
(i) a first nucleic acid sequence which encodes a first CAR-forming polypeptide; and
(ii) a second nucleic acid sequence which encodes a second CAR-forming
polypeptide.
The nucleic acid construct may encodes at least one CAR-forming polypeptide as defined in
the first aspect of the invention and at least one accessory polypeptide as defined above.
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In this embodiment, the nucleic acid construct may comprise at least two nucleic acid
sequences:
(i) a first nucleic acid sequence which encodes a CAR-forming polypeptide; and
(ii) a second nucleic acid sequence which encodes an accessory polypeptide.
The nucleic acid construct may encode:
(i) at least one CAR-forming polypeptide, which forms a multimeric CAR as defined in the
second aspect of the invention; and
(ii) an intracellular signalling component as defined above.
In this embodiment, the nucleic acid construct may comprise at least two nucleic acid
sequences:
(i) a first nucleic acid sequence which encodes a CAR-forming polypeptide; and
(ii) a second nucleic acid sequence which encodes an intracellular signalling
component.
The nuclic acid construct may comprise a third nucleic acid sequence which encodes an
accessory polypeptide.
The nucleic acid construct may therefore produce two or more polypeptide(s) joined by a
cleavage site(s). The cleavage site may be self-cleaving, such that when the nascent
translation product is produced, it is immediately cleaved into individual polypeptides without
the need for any external cleavage activity.
The cleavage site may be any sequence which enables the polypeptide comprising multiple
CARs and/or accessory polypeptides to become separated.
The term “cleavage” is used herein for convenience, but the cleavage site may cause the
peptides to separate into individual entities by a mechanism other than classical cleavage.
For example, for the Foot-and-Mouth disease virus (FMDV) 2A self-cleaving peptide (see
below), various models have been proposed for to account for the “cleavage” activity:
proteolysis by a host-cell proteinase, autoproteolysis or a translational effect (Donnelly et al
(2001) J. Gen. Virol. 82:1027-1041). The exact mechanism of such “cleavage” is not important
for the purposes of the present invention, as long as the cleavage site, when positioned
between nucleic acid sequences which encode proteins, causes the proteins to be expressed
as separate entities.
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The cleavage site may be a furin cleavage site.
Furin is an enzyme which belongs to the subtilisin-like proprotein convertase family. The
members of this family are proprotein convertases that process latent precursor proteins into
their biologically active products. Furin is a calcium-dependent serine endoprotease that can
efficiently cleave precursor proteins at their paired basic amino acid processing sites.
Examples of furin substrates include proparathyroid hormone, transforming growth factor beta
1 precursor, proalbumin, pro-beta-secretase, membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase, beta
subunit of pro-nerve growth factor and von Willebrand factor. Furin cleaves proteins just
downstream of a basic amino acid target sequence (canonically, Arg-X-(Arg/Lys)-Arg') and is
enriched in the Golgi apparatus.
The cleavage site may be a Tobacco Etch Virus (TEV) cleavage site.
TEV protease is a highly sequence-specific cysteine protease which is chymotrypsin-like
proteases. It is very specific for its target cleavage site and is therefore frequently used for
the controlled cleavage of fusion proteins both in vitro and in vivo. The consensus TEV
cleavage site is ENLYFQ\S (where ‘\’ denotes the cleaved peptide bond). Mammalian cells,
such as human cells, do not express TEV protease. Thus in embodiments in which the present
nucleic acid construct comprises a TEV cleavage site and is expressed in a mammalian cell
– exogenous TEV protease must also expressed in the mammalian cell.
The cleavage site may encode a self-cleaving peptide.
A ‘self-cleaving peptide’ refers to a peptide which functions such that when the nascent
product comprising the polypeptides and the self-cleaving peptide is produced, it is
immediately “cleaved” or separated into distinct and discrete first and second polypeptides
without the need for any external cleavage activity.
The self-cleaving peptide may be a 2A self-cleaving peptide from an aphtho- or a cardiovirus.
The primary 2A/2B cleavage of the aptho- and cardioviruses is mediated by 2A “cleaving” at
its own C-terminus. In apthoviruses, such as foot-and-mouth disease viruses (FMDV) and
equine rhinitis A virus, the 2A region is a short section of about 18 amino acids, which, together
with the N-terminal residue of protein 2B (a conserved proline residue) represents an
autonomous element capable of mediating “cleavage” at its own C-terminus (Donelly et al
(2001) as above).
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“2A-like” sequences have been found in picornaviruses other than aptho- or cardioviruses,
‘picornavirus-like’ insect viruses, type C rotaviruses and repeated sequences within
Trypanosoma spp and a bacterial sequence (Donnelly et al (2001) as above). The cleavage
site may comprise one of these 2A-like sequences, such as:
YHADYYKQRLIHDVEMNPGP (SEQ ID No. 14)
HYAGYFADLLIHDIETNPGP (SEQ ID No. 15)
QCTNYALLKLAGDVESNPGP (SEQ ID No. 16)
ATNFSLLKQAGDVEENPGP (SEQ ID No. 17)
AARQMLLLLSGDVETNPGP (SEQ ID No. 18)
RAEGRGSLLTCGDVEENPGP (SEQ ID No. 19)
TRAEIEDELIRAGIESNPGP (SEQ ID No. 20)
TRAEIEDELIRADIESNPGP (SEQ ID No. 21)
AKFQIDKILISGDVELNPGP (SEQ ID No. 22)
SSIIRTKMLVSGDVEENPGP (SEQ ID No. 23)
CDAQRQKLLLSGDIEQNPGP (SEQ ID No. 24)
YPIDFGGFLVKADSEFNPGP (SEQ ID No. 25)
The cleavage site may comprise the 2A-like sequence shown as SEQ ID No. 19
(RAEGRGSLLTCGDVEENPGP).
The present invention also provides a kit comprising one or more nucleic acid sequence(s)
encoding a CAR-foring polypeptide according to the first aspect of the present invention and/or
an accessory polypeptide suitable for producing a CAR according to the second aspect of the
invention.
VECTOR
The present invention also provides a vector, or kit of vectors, which comprises one or more
nucleic acid sequence(s) or nucleic acid construct as defined above. Such a vector may be
used to introduce the nucleic acid sequence(s) into a host cell so that it expresses a CAR-
forming polypeptide or an accessory peptide according to the first aspect of the invention
and/or a CAR according to the second aspect of the invention.
The vector may, for example, be a plasmid or a viral vector, such as a retroviral vector or a
lentiviral vector, or a transposon based vector or synthetic mRNA.
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The vector may be capable of transfecting or transducing an immune cell such as a T cell or
a NK cell.
CELL
The present invention also relates to a cell, such as an immune cell, comprising a CAR-forming
polypeptide, CAR, or CAR signalling system as described above.
The cell may comprise a nucleic acid, nucleic acid construct or a vector of the present
invention.
The cell may be an immune cell, in particular a cytolytic immune cell, such as a T cell or an
NK cell.
T cells or T lymphocytes are a type of lymphocyte that play a central role in cell-mediated
immunity. They can be distinguished from other lymphocytes, such as B cells and natural
killer cells (NK cells), by the presence of a T-cell receptor (TCR) on the cell surface. There
are various types of T cell, as summarised below.
Helper T helper cells (TH cells) assist other white blood cells in immunologic processes,
including maturation of B cells into plasma cells and memory B cells, and activation of cytotoxic
T cells and macrophages. TH cells express CD4 on their surface. TH cells become activated
when they are presented with peptide antigens by MHC class II molecules on the surface of
antigen presenting cells (APCs). These cells can differentiate into one of several subtypes,
including TH1, TH2, TH3, TH17, Th9, or TFH, which secrete different cytokines to facilitate
different types of immune responses.
Cytolytic T cells (TC cells, or CTLs) destroy virally infected cells and tumor cells, and are also
implicated in transplant rejection. CTLs express the CD8 at their surface. These cells
recognize their targets by binding to antigen associated with MHC class I, which is present on
the surface of all nucleated cells. Through IL-10, adenosine and other molecules secreted by
regulatory T cells, the CD8+ cells can be inactivated to an anergic state, which prevent
autoimmune diseases such as experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
Memory T cells are a subset of antigen-specific T cells that persist long-term after an infection
has resolved. They quickly expand to large numbers of effector T cells upon re-exposure to
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their cognate antigen, thus providing the immune system with "memory" against past
infections. Memory T cells comprise three subtypes: central memory T cells (TCM cells) and
two types of effector memory T cells (TEM cells and TEMRA cells). Memory cells may be
either CD4+ or CD8+. Memory T cells typically express the cell surface protein CD45RO.
Regulatory T cells (Treg cells), formerly known as suppressor T cells, are crucial for the
maintenance of immunological tolerance. Their major role is to shut down T cell-mediated
immunity toward the end of an immune reaction and to suppress auto-reactive T cells that
escaped the process of negative selection in the thymus.
Two major classes of CD4+ Treg cells have been described — naturally occurring Treg cells
and adaptive Treg cells.
Naturally occurring Treg cells (also known as CD4+CD25+FoxP3+ Treg cells) arise in the
thymus and have been linked to interactions between developing T cells with both myeloid
(CD11c+) and plasmacytoid (CD123+) dendritic cells that have been activated with TSLP.
Naturally occurring Treg cells can be distinguished from other T cells by the presence of an
intracellular molecule called FoxP3. Mutations of the FOXP3 gene can prevent regulatory T
cell development, causing the fatal autoimmune disease IPEX.
Adaptive Treg cells (also known as Tr1 cells or Th3 cells) may originate during a normal
immune response.
The cell may be a Natural Killer cell (or NK cell). NK cells form part of the innate immune
system. NK cells provide rapid responses to innate signals from virally infected cells in an
MHC independent manner
NK cells (belonging to the group of innate lymphoid cells) are defined as large granular
lymphocytes (LGL) and constitute the third kind of cells differentiated from the common
lymphoid progenitor generating B and T lymphocytes. NK cells are known to differentiate and
mature in the bone marrow, lymph node, spleen, tonsils and thymus where they then enter
into the circulation.
The CAR cells of the invention may be any of the cell types mentioned above.
T or NK cells expressing a CAR according to the invention or components thereof, may either
be created ex vivo either from a patient’s own peripheral blood (1st party), or in the setting of
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a haematopoietic stem cell transplant from donor peripheral blood (2nd party), or peripheral
blood from an unconnected donor (3rd party).
Alternatively, T or NK cells expressing a CAR according to the the invention or components
thereof may be derived from ex vivo differentiation of inducible progenitor cells or embryonic
progenitor cells to T or NK cells. Alternatively, an immortalized T-cell line which retains its
lytic function and could act as a therapeutic may be used.
In all these embodiments, CAR cells are generated by introducing DNA or RNA coding for the
CAR of the invention or a component(s) or a component thereof by one of many means
including transduction with a viral vector, transfection with DNA or RNA.
The CAR cell of the invention may be an ex vivo T or NK cell from a subject. The T or NK cell
may be from a peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) sample. T or NK cells may be
activated and/or expanded prior to being transduced with nucleic acid encoding the molecules
providing the CAR of the invention or a component(s) of the CAR, for example by treatment
with an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody.
The T or NK cell of the invention may be made by:
(i) isolation of a T or NK cell-containing sample from a subject or other sources listed
above; and
(ii) transduction or transfection of the T or NK cells with one or more a nucleic acid
sequence(s) or nucleic acid construct(s) as described above.
The T or NK cells may then by purified, for example, selected on the basis of expression of
the antigen-binding domain of the antigen-binding polypeptide.
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPOSITION
The present invention also relates to a pharmaceutical composition containing a plurality of
cells expressing the CAR according to the invention or the components thereof.
The pharmaceutical composition may additionally comprise a pharmaceutically acceptable
carrier, diluent or excipient. The pharmaceutical composition may optionally comprise one or
more further pharmaceutically active polypeptides and/or compounds. Such a formulation
may, for example, be in a form suitable for intravenous infusion.
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METHOD OF TREATMENT
The present invention provides a method for treating and/or preventing a disease which
comprises the step of administering the cells of the present invention (for example in a
pharmaceutical composition as described above) to a subject.
A method for treating a disease relates to the therapeutic use of the cells of the present
invention. Herein the cells may be administered to a subject having an existing disease or
condition in order to lessen, reduce or improve at least one symptom associated with the
disease and/or to slow down, reduce or block the progression of the disease.
The method for preventing a disease relates to the prophylactic use of the cells of the present
invention. Herein such cells may be administered to a subject who has not yet contracted the
disease and/or who is not showing any symptoms of the disease to prevent or impair the cause
of the disease or to reduce or prevent development of at least one symptom associated with
the disease. The subject may have a predisposition for, or be thought to be at risk of
developing, the disease.
The method may involve the steps of:
(i) isolating a T or NK cell-containing sample;
(ii) transducing or transfecting such cells with a nucleic acid sequence, nucleic acid
construct or vector of the invention;
(iii) administering the cells from (ii) to a subject.
The T or NK cell-containing sample may be isolated from a subject or from other sources, for
example as described above. The T or NK cells may be isolated from a subject’s own
peripheral blood (1st party), or in the setting of a haematopoietic stem cell transplant from
donor peripheral blood (2nd party), or peripheral blood from an unconnected donor (3rd party).
The present invention provides a CAR cell of the present invention for use in treating and/or
preventing a disease.
The invention also relates to the use of a CAR cell of the present invention in the manufacture
of a medicament for the treatment and/or prevention of a disease.
The disease to be treated and/or prevented by the methods of the present invention may be
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a cancerous disease, such as bladder cancer, breast cancer, colon cancer, endometrial
cancer, kidney cancer (renal cell), leukaemia, lung cancer, melanoma, non-Hodgkin
lymphoma, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer and thyroid cancer.
The CAR cells of the present invention may be capable of killing target cells, such as cancer
cells. The target cell may be recognisable by expression of a TAA, for example the expression
of a TAA provided above in Table 1.
The CAR cells of the present invention may be capable of killing target cells, such as cancer
cells, which express a low density of the TAA. Examples of TAAs which are known to be
expressed at low densities in certain cancers include, but are not limited to, ROR1 in CLL,
Typr-1 in melanoma and BCMA in myeloma.
The CAR cells and pharmaceutical compositions of present invention may be for use in the
treatment and/or prevention of the diseases described above.
The CAR cells and pharmaceutical compositions of present invention may be for use in any
of the methods described above.
The invention will now be further described by way of Examples, which are meant to serve to
assist one of ordinary skill in the art in carrying out the invention and are not intended in any
way to limit the scope of the invention.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 – Expression of COMP CARs at the cell surface
A murine T-cell line was transduced with the anti-CD33 COMP CAR (amino acid sequence
shown in Figure 5c and nucleic acid sequence shown in Figure 5d) or anti-CD33 IgG1 CAR.
These cells were then stained with chimeric soluble CD33 fused to murine Fc IgG2a before a
secondary stain with anti-mouse IgG PE (Figure 6a)
A murine T-cell line was transduced with the anti-ROR-1 COMP CAR CAR (amino acid
sequence shown in Figure 5c and nucleic acid sequence shown in Figure 5d) or anti-ROR-1
IgG1 CAR.
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These cells were then stained with soluble His tagged ROR-1 followed by a secondary stain
with anti-His-biotin and then a third stain with streptavidin-APC (Figure 6b).
All four CARs were successfully expressed on the cell surface. These data also demonstrate
that that the CAR binding domain is orientated in a way that does not impede ligand binding
when linked to a COMP spacer.
Example 2 – Stimulation of COMP CAR T-cells with immobilised ligand
T-cells with beads coated with immobilised ligand were used to stimulate COMP ROR-1 CAR
T-cells. To achieve this, soluble His-tag ROR-1 was constructed and expressed.
Supernatants containing these soluble ligands were then incubated at various concentrations
with a set number of anti-His beads. The beads were then washed to remove unbound ligand
and these beads were used to stimulate T-cells transduced with either the COMP CAR
platforms or an equivalent CAR with an IgG spacer.
Transduced murine T-cells were co-cultured with anti-His beads that were pre-coated with
different concentrations of soluble His tagged ROR-1 supernatant. The amount of IL-2 in the
co-culture supernatant was analysed after 16-24hours via ELISA (Figure 7).
Example 3 – Expression levels of ROR-1 target cells
The SKW cell line naturally expresses low levels of ROR-1. These cells were transduced with
ROR-1 to increase the expression levels. These cells were stained with anti-ROR-1 APC and
compared to non-stained cells (Figure 8).
Example 4 – Stimulation of anti-ROR-1 COMP CAR T-cells with ROR-1 positive SKW cells
Transduced murine T-cells (described in Examples 1 and 2) were co-cultured with SKW target
cells that express the ROR-1 ligand at either a low or a high density. T-cells were maintained
at a constant number and the target cells were varied. The amount of IL-2 in the co-culture
supernatant was analysed after 16-24 hours via ELISA (Figure 9).
Higher levels of IL-2 were detected when the anti-ROR-1 COMP CAR T cells were co-cultured
with SKW target cells expressing a low density of ROR-1 ligand compared to the anti-ROR-1
IgG1 CAR.
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Both CARs were able to initiate an activation response with SKW-high target cells.
Example 5 – Truncation of the COMP spacer
The aROR-1 CAR with a COMP spacer was truncated from its original length of 45 amino
acids. These COMP truncated constructs were transfected into 293T cells and then stained
for CAR surface expression with sROR-1 His followed by and anti-His-Biotin followed by a
streptavidin-PE.Cy7. These cells were also stained for the RQR8 marker with an anti-CD34-
FITC antibody. These FACS plots show stable surface expression of various truncated forms
of the COMP spacer, displaying the ability to vary the length of the coiled coil spacer by one
to a few amino acids at a time (Figure 11).
Example 6 – Comparison of multimeric coiled-coil spacer CARs with a classical dimeric CAR
In order to compare the function of coiled-coil spacers CARs of the invention with a
conventional CAR, a series of constructs were made with the same antigen-binding domains
and equivalent endodomains, but with different spacers, leading to a completely different CAR
structure. The different CARs are shown in Figure 12.
All CARs comprised an anti-CD19 antigen-binding domain based on fmc63 and a “second
generation” endodomain comprising 41BB and CD3zeta endodomains. The following formats
ere tested:
a) a heteromultimeric CAR which comprises: a polypeptide having an anti-CD19
antigen binding domain; a coiled-coil spacer domain and a CD3zeta endodomain; and an
accessory polypeptide having a coiled-coil spacer domain and a 41BB endodomain (Figure
12A);
b) a homomultimeric CAR made up of polypeptides comprising an anti-CD19 antigen
binding domain; a coiled-coil spacer domain and a combined 41BB/CD3zeta endodomain
(Figure 12B); and
c) a classical second generation homodimeric CAR which comprises two polypeptides
having an anti-CD19 antigen-binding domain, a CD8 stalk spacer domain and a combined
41BB/CD3zeta endodomain (Figure 12C).
Vectors encoding the CAR illustrated in Figure 12 were
RD114-pseudotyped retrovirus encoding the various CAR structures was produced.
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T cells were depleted of CD56-expressing cells and co-cultured with an equal number of
SupT1 to achieve an effector:target ratio of 1:1. Prior to analysis by flow cytometry, an equal
number of fluorescent counting beads was added to each co-culture to allow normalization of
cell numbers and to account for any differences in uptake volumes. CAR-mediated cytotoxicity
was assessed by flow cytometry as follows: T cells were differentiated from tumour cells by
staining for CD3 expression vs FCS and tumour cells identified by their lack of CD3 and higher
FCS signal. Viability was assessed by staining with the dead cell exclusion dye 7-AAD and
viable cells defined as those which did not uptake the dye. Viable tumour cells were
enumerated for each co-culture condition and percentage cytotoxicity was calculated by
normalizing the number of viable tumour cells to that recovered from co-cultures carried out
with non-transduced PBMCs (100%). Killing of targets cells was assessed at day 2 and 5.
The results are shown in Figure 13 (day 2) and Figure 14 (day 5). After two days, ll three CAR
structures showed killing of CD19+ SupT1 target cells. The two multimeric CARs showed
superior killing to the equivalent classical homodimeric CAR. The homomultimeric CAR
(Fmc63-COMP-41BBz) showed the most killing. At day 5, some residual target cells remained
with the classical homodimeric CAR (Fmc63-CD8STK-41BBz) but viable target cells were
virtually undetectable for both the multimeric CARs.
Example 7 – Production and testing of coiled-coil SuperCARs
A major challenge for CAR technologies is the detection of antigens which are present at low
densities on target cells. In order to address this issue, the present inventors have designed
“SuperCARs” based on the coiled-coil spacer format which recruit multiple TCRzeta chains
for each antigen interaction.
The intracellular part of the polypeptide making up the coiled-coil CAR structure comprises a
plurality of heterodimerization domains, each or which is capable of interacting with one or
more intracellular signalling components which comprises one or more intracellular signalling
domains.
In the constructs illustrated in Figure 15, intracellular dimerization is between dimerization and
docking domain (DDD1) and anchoring domain (AD1). Each polypeptide making up the coiled-
coil spacer CAR comprises four separate AD1 domains. A coiled-coil CAR comprising 5
polypeptides will therefore comprise 20 AD1 domains
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The coiled coil SuperCAR was tested in combination with different signalling components
having 0 or 2 copies of the TCR zeta signalling domain. As DDD1 binds AD1 in a 2:1
stoichiometry, these signalling domains give 0 and 80 copies of the TCR zeta domain
respectively for each 5-polypeptide coiled-coil CAR targeting component.
As a control, a classical homodimeric anti-CD19 CAR was used (Figure 15: aCD19-IgGFc-Z)
with the same antigen-binding domain.
The murine T-cell line BW5 was transduced with each CAR and challenged with SupT1 cells
expressing the cognate antigen (CD19) at different concentrations: low, mid and high. These
SupT1 cells were engineered to express CD19 at different levels by the use of suboptimal
signal peptides and/or the introduction of cytoplasmic retention motifs derived from Tyrp-1
(inserted proximal to the membrane) or glycoprotein E3-19k from adenovirus (inserted on the
C-terminus). IL-2 release was measured after antigen challenge.
The results are shown in Figure 16. It was found that coiled-coil the superCAR comprising 80
copies of TCR zeta per 5-mer coiled-coil CAR gave a much greater response to antigen than
the equivalent classical CAR comprising two copies of TCR zeta per molecule.
All publications mentioned in the above specification are herein incorporated by reference.
Various modifications and variations of the described methods and system of the invention
will be apparent to those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the
invention. Although the invention has been described in connection with specific preferred
embodiments, it should be understood that the invention as claimed should not be unduly
limited to such specific embodiments. Indeed, various modifications of the described modes
for carrying out the invention which are obvious to those skilled in molecular biology, cell
biology or related fields are intended to be within the scope of the following claims.
Claims (12)
1. A multimeric chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) which comprises at least three CAR- forming polypeptides, each CAR-forming polypeptide comprising: (i) an antigen-binding domain; (ii) a coiled-coil spacer domain; (iii) a transmembrane domain; and (iv) an endodomain.
2. A multimeric chimeric antigen receptor comprising one or more CAR-forming polypeptide (s) as defined in claim 1, together with one or more accessory polypeptide (s), the or each accessory polypeptide comprising: (i) a coiled-coil spacer domain; (ii) a transmembrane domain; and (iii) an endodomain Wherein the total number of CAR-forming polypeptides and accessory polypeptides in the multimeric CAR is at least three.
3. A multimeric CAR according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the coiled-coil spacer domain is from: cartilage-oligomeric matrix protein (COMP), mannose-binding protein A, coiled-coil serine-rich protein 1, polypeptide release factor 2, SNAP-25, SNARE, Lac repressor or apolipoprotein E.
4. A multimeric CAR- according to claim 3 wherein the coiled-coil spacer domain comprises one of the sequences shown as SEQ ID No. 1 or 30 to 42 or a fragment thereof or a variant thereof which has at least 80% sequence identity and retains the capacity to form a coiled coil oligomer.
5. A nucleic acid which encodes a CAR-forming polypeptide as defined in any preceding claim.
6. A nucleic acid construct which encodes at least one accessory polypeptide as defined in either of claims 2 to 4.
7. A vector which comprises a nucleic acid according to claim 5 or a nucleic acid construct according to claim 6.
8. A cell in vitro which comprises a nucleic acid according to claim 5 or a nucleic acid construct according to claim 6.
9. A pharmaceutical composition which comprises a cell according to claim 8.
10. A cell according to claim 8 for use in treating a disease.
11. A cell for use according to claim 10 wherein the disease is cancer.
12. A method for making a cell according to claim 8, which comprises the step of introducing a nucleic acid according to claim 5, a nucleic acid construct according to claim 6, or a vector according to claim 7 into a cell ex vivo.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
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GB1504840.8 | 2015-03-23 | ||
GBGB1504840.8A GB201504840D0 (en) | 2015-03-23 | 2015-03-23 | Chimeric antigen receptor |
PCT/GB2016/050795 WO2016151315A1 (en) | 2015-03-23 | 2016-03-22 | Chimeric antigen receptor |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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NZ735267A NZ735267A (en) | 2021-04-30 |
NZ735267B2 true NZ735267B2 (en) | 2021-08-03 |
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