US20110014697A1 - Method and Kit for Rapid Isolation of Human Foxp3+ Treg Cells - Google Patents

Method and Kit for Rapid Isolation of Human Foxp3+ Treg Cells Download PDF

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US20110014697A1
US20110014697A1 US12/682,674 US68267408A US2011014697A1 US 20110014697 A1 US20110014697 A1 US 20110014697A1 US 68267408 A US68267408 A US 68267408A US 2011014697 A1 US2011014697 A1 US 2011014697A1
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cells
antibody
foxp3
cd49d
treg
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Olaf Roetzschke
Kirsten Falk
Markus Kleinewietfeld
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Max Delbrueck Centrum fuer Molekulare in der Helmholtz Gemeinschaft
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Max Delbrueck Centrum fuer Molekulare in der Helmholtz Gemeinschaft
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Priority claimed from EP07020026A external-priority patent/EP2048225B1/en
Priority claimed from EP08008255A external-priority patent/EP2113561A1/en
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Publication of US20110014697A1 publication Critical patent/US20110014697A1/en
Priority to US14/089,179 priority Critical patent/US9213028B2/en
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    • A61K2035/122—Materials from mammals; Compositions comprising non-specified tissues or cells; Compositions comprising non-embryonic stem cells; Genetically modified cells for inducing tolerance or supression of immune responses

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to methods for isolating human forkhead box P3 (Foxp3+) CD4+ regulatory T cells (herein referred to as Foxp3+ Treg cells) from a sample containing (i) peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), (ii) a lymphocyte containing fluid, or (iii) a lymphocyte containing tissue, a kit for isolating human Foxp3+ Treg cells, and the use of anti-CD49d antibody for the isolation of human Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • PBMCs peripheral blood mononuclear cells
  • a lymphocyte containing fluid a lymphocyte containing fluid
  • a lymphocyte containing tissue a kit for isolating human Foxp3+ Treg cells
  • anti-CD49d antibody for the isolation of human Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • Tregs are fundamental in controlling various immune responses in that Tregs can rapidly suppress the activity of other immune cells.
  • Tregs are crucial for maintaining tolerance by downregulating undesired immune responses to self and non-self antigens (see, e.g. Fontenot, J. D. & Rudensky, A. Y. Nat Immunol 6, 331-7 (2005); Sakaguchi, S., Annu Rev Immunol 22, 531-62 (2004)).
  • Treg defects have been discovered in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), type I diabetes (T1D), psoriasis, myasthenia gravis (MG) and other autoimmune diseases (Baecher-Allan, C.
  • Treg cells constitute of about 2-10% of CD4+ T cells in humans and rodents and constitutively express CD25, CTLA-4 and GITR, as well as the transcription factor Foxp3, which is involved in their development and function.
  • the characteristic marker of Treg cells is Foxp3.
  • Methods for the isolation of human Foxp3+ Treg cells are known. For instance, Hoffmann, P. et al. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 12, 267-74 (2006) describe the isolation of CD4+CD25+ T cells with regulatory function from standard leukapheresis products by using a 2-step magnetic cell-separation protocol under good manufacturing practice (GMP) conditions). The generated cell products contained on average 49.5% Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • commercial kits e.g. CD4+CD2 5 + Regulatory T Cell Isolation Kit from Miltenyi Biotec or Dynal® CD4+CD25+ Treg Kit from Invitrogen are available.
  • All of the hitherto described methods for isolation of human Foxp3+ Treg cells employ positive selection of Foxp3+ Treg cells based on cell surface markers of Tregs (see, e.g. Seddiki, N. et al., J Exp Med 203, 1693-700 (2006)). That is, the Foxp3+ Treg cells are isolated by using antibodies for Treg associated cell surface markers, mostly CD25. Yet most cell surface markers of Tregs, such as CD4 and CD25, are not restricted to Tregs. For instance, the commonly employed CD25 is not present on all Foxp3+ Treg cells and is also expressed by effector and memory CD4+ T cells (see, e.g. Baecher-Allan, C., Brown, J. A., Freeman, G.
  • Another disadvantage of current methods is the contamination of the isolated Treg subsets with effector T cells.
  • the latter represent an inherent risk of adverse reactions as they drive pro-inflammatory immune reactions by secreting cytokines such as IFN- ⁇ or IL-17.
  • these contaminations can be significant as up to half of the isolated CD4+ cell population can be comprised of effector T cells (Hoffmann, P. et al. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 12, 267-74 (2006)).
  • the methods and kits described above show major disadvantages with respect to isolating Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • the current methods for the isolation of immune-suppressive Foxp3+ Treg cells do not allow an effective removal of contaminating CD4+ effector and memory T cells.
  • the currently employed techniques and markers e.g. CD25-based Foxp3+ Treg isolations, fail to discriminate these contaminating CD4+ effector and memory T cells from immune-suppressive Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • CD25 is a marker that is also present on these contaminating CD4+ cells.
  • CD4+ CD4+ T cells cannot even be discriminated by intracellular Foxp3 staining, since activated human CD4+ effector cells are known to express Foxp3 transiently (Allan et al., Int Immunol. 19:345-54(2007)).
  • activated human CD4+ effector cells are known to express Foxp3 transiently (Allan et al., Int Immunol. 19:345-54(2007)).
  • CD25 high CD4+ T cells isolated by current methods contain a substantial fraction of cytokine producing pro-inflammatory effector cells (Dieckmann et al., J. Exp Med. 193, 1303-1310 (2001)), i.e. the isolated Foxp3+ Treg cells are significantly contaminated with CD4+ effector and memory T cells.
  • the method and kit of the present invention offer a new approach to improve the quality of Treg preparations over those obtained by other methods, especially due to the removal of cytokine-producing effector T cells.
  • the present invention is based on results about the correlation of specific cell surface markers of Foxp3+ Treg cells and cell surface markers of non-regulatory CD4+ T cells.
  • the cell surface marker CD49d was examined. During the experiments in the context of the present invention, it could be shown that the surface marker CD49d is absent in most Foxp3+ Treg cells. In the context of the present invention, it could be shown that human Foxp3+ Treg cells can be isolated by the use of an antibody against CD49d. Additionally, the suppressor activity of the isolated Foxp3+ Treg cells was confirmed by experiments in the context of the present invention.
  • the isolated Foxp3+ Treg cells were able to suppress effector T cell proliferation in a suppression assay, strongly inhibited mixed lypmphocyte reactions (MLR) in vitro and prevented the fatal attack of transferred human PBMC in vivo in a GvHD model based on Rag2 ⁇ / ⁇ c ⁇ / ⁇ mice.
  • MLR mixed lypmphocyte reactions
  • one of its objects is solved by a method for isolating human Foxp3+ Treg cells from a sample containing (i) peripheral blood mononuclear cells, or ‘PBMCs’, (ii) a lymphocyte containing fluid, or (iii) a lymphocyte containing tissue, the method comprising the steps of:
  • treating the sample shall especially imply that the cells contained in the sample are brought into direct physical contact with the antibodies in a way that the antibodies can interact with the targeted cells.
  • the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), the lymphocyte containing fluid, or the lymphocyte containing tissue are contacted with an anti-CD49d antibody and Foxp3+ Treg cells are separated.
  • separating refers to the removal by physical means either of one cell type, e.g. Foxp3+ Treg cells, from other cell types, e.g. CD4+ effector cells, or of all non-regulatory CD4+ T cells from Foxp3+ Treg cells, thereby retaining an enriched population of Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • the separation can be carried out in one step or in more steps, which steps can also be performed consecutively, i.e. a first separation can be carried out after a first treatment of the sample with one or more antibody/antibodies and then another treatment of the sample isolated from the first separation with one or more antibody/antibodies can be carried out followed by another separation, and so on.
  • sample refers to a body fluid or tissue that contains peripheral blood mononuclear cells, or ‘PBMCs’, or lymphocytes.
  • PBMCs peripheral blood mononuclear cells
  • lymphocyte containing fluid refers to any fluid that contains lymphocytes, such as synovial fluid.
  • lymphocyte containing tissue refers to any tissue that contains lymphocytes, such as spleen, thymus, lymph nodes, bone marrow, Peyer's patches, and tonsils.
  • the invention solves the recited technical problem by a simple, highly reliable and reproducible method for the isolation of Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • prior art methods rely on cell surface markers of Foxp3+ Treg cells, e.g. CD25.
  • said methods only allowed the isolation of Foxp3+ Treg cells that were significantly contaminated with CD4+ effector and memory T cells.
  • all of the current methods are CD25-based, all isolated Foxp3+ Treg cells are labelled, namely tagged by an antibody against one of the cell surface markers of the Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • said methods required at least two isolation steps: (i) depletion of non-CD4 cells; (ii) isolation of CD25+ cells by positive sorting.
  • the method of the present invention first of all allows the isolation of Foxp3+ Treg in a single step.
  • CD49d is present on the majority of CD4+ effector and memory T cells but absent on immune-suppressive Foxp3+ Treg cells. Accordingly, it can be employed to remove contaminating cells, e.g. cytokine-producing effector T cells, from Foxp3+ Treg preparations.
  • CD49d+ cells removes virtually all cytokine producing CD4+ cells, including transiently Foxp3 expressing effector cells, which contaminate CD25-based Treg preparations. This applies for total CD4+ cells and, most strikingly, for conventional preparations of CD25+ cells.
  • isolation of Foxp3+ Treg cells using the method according to the present invention is faster, easier and above all more effective with regard to the isolation of a uniform population that accounts for most of the Foxp3+ Treg cells contained in the sample.
  • isolation of Foxp3+ Treg cells employing the method of the present invention yields a population of immune-suppressive Foxp3+ Treg cells that is virtually free from contaminating CD4+ effector and memory T cells.
  • the method of the present invention can be automated, therefore further augmenting easy applicability of the method.
  • the method for isolating Foxp3+ Treg cells comprises: (a) treating a sample containing Foxp3+ Treg cells with an anti-CD49d antibody; and (b) depleting the sample of CD49d+ cells via the anti-CD49d antibody thereby isolating Foxp3+ regulatory T cells, wherein the sample is (i) peripheral blood mononuclear cells, or ‘PBMCs’, (ii) a lymphocyte containing fluid, or (iii) a lymphocyte containing tissue.
  • PBMCs peripheral blood mononuclear cells
  • lymphocyte containing fluid or iii) a lymphocyte containing tissue.
  • the most encouraging result obtained in accordance with the present invention was the finding that also untouched Foxp3+ Treg cells can be obtained with high purity, i.e. virtually free from contaminating CD4+ effector and memory T cells, by the combined, i.e. sequential or simultaneous, use, of anti-CD49d antibody and anti-CD127 antibody, which target two cell surface markers, namely CD127 and CD49d, inversely correlated with Foxp3 expression, in the method according to the present invention.
  • the isolated Foxp3+ Treg cells obtained by the method according to the present invention are fully functional, demonstrated by their capacity to inhibit mixed lymphocyte reactions in vitro and to prevent lethal xeno-GvHD responses in vivo.
  • steps (a) and (b) can be carried out simultaneously. Additionally, steps (a) and (b) can also be carried out repeatedly, i.e. a first step (a) and a first step (b) are carried out, followed by a second step (a) and a second step (b), optionally followed by a third, fourth, etc. step (a) and (b), respectively.
  • steps (a) and (b) are carried out repeatedly, the respective sample of each subsequent step (i.e. second step (a) or (b), third step (a) or (b), etc.) is treated and separated individually and independently of any other sample.
  • a first separation step (b) for Foxp3+ Treg cells e.g. by using a commonly known separation method selected from centrifugation, cell elutriation, magnetic separation, fluorescence activated cell sorting, immunological separation, adhesion, complement lysis, or fluorescence activated cell sorting, than these Foxp3+ Treg cells of the first step (b) can be treated with, e.g. anti-CD25 antibody and/or anti-CD127 antibody, in a second step (a), followed by a second separation step (b), e.g. using magnetic cell separation, for the isolation of CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • a second separation step (b) e.g. using magnetic cell separation
  • a unique cell population having specific properties, e.g. particular cell surface receptors, can be isolated.
  • step (a) can additionally comprise treatment of the sample with an anti-CD25 antibody.
  • an anti-CD25 antibody Preferably, Foxp3+ Treg cells that have been isolated using anti-CD49d antibody are treated with an anti-CD25 antibody followed by a separation of CD25+ Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • the method for isolating Foxp3+ Treg cells comprises: (a) treating a sample containing Foxp3+ Treg cells with an anti-CD49d and an anti-CD25 antibody; and (b) depleting the sample of CD49d+ cells via the anti-CD49d antibody thereby isolating Foxp3+ regulatory T cells, wherein the sample is (i) peripheral blood mononuclear cells, or ‘PBMCs’, (ii) a lymphocyte containing fluid, or (iii) a lymphocyte containing tissue.
  • step (b) can additionally comprise positive selection of CD25+ cells via the anti-CD25 antibody.
  • positive selection means that desired cells are removed from the repertoire of cells by labelling/capturing said desired cells, while leaving unwanted cells (label-)free.
  • step (a) can additionally comprise treatment of the sample with an anti-CD127 antibody.
  • the method for isolating Foxp3+ Treg cells comprises: (a) treating a sample containing Foxp3+ Treg cells with an anti-CD49d and an anti-CD127 antibody; and (b) depleting the sample of CD49d+CD127+ cells via the anti-CD49d antibody or the anti-CD127 antibody thereby isolating Foxp3+ regulatory T cells, wherein the sample is (i) peripheral blood mononuclear cells, or ‘PBMCs’, (ii) a lymphocyte containing fluid, or (iii) a lymphocyte containing tissue.
  • PBMCs peripheral blood mononuclear cells
  • step (a) can additionally comprise separation of non-CD4+ T cells from the sample.
  • the advantage of additionally separating non-CD4+ T cells from the sample lies in that non-CD4+ T cells are removed with higher efficiency and, as a result, the purity of the obtained cell population is higher.
  • non-CD4+ T cells can be separated from the sample by positive selection using an anti-CD4 antibody.
  • one or more antibody/antibodies that allow for the specific depletion of non-CD4+ T cells from the sample can be used for the separation of non-CD4+ T cells by negative selection from the sample.
  • negative selection means that unwanted cells are removed from the repertoire of cells by labelling/capturing said unwanted cells, while leaving the cells of interest (label-)free.
  • Preferred according to the present invention is a method, wherein the antibody/antibodies used for the specific depletion of non-CD4+ T cells from the sample can be selected from the group comprising anti-CD8 antibody, anti-CD10 antibody, anti-CD14 antibody, anti-CD15 antibody, anti-CD16 antibody, anti-CD19 antibody, anti-CD35 antibody, anti-CD36 antibody, anti-CD49b antibody, anti-CD56 antibody, anti-CD66a antibody, anti-CD66b antibody, anti-CD66c antibody, anti-CD66d antibody, anti-CD89 antibody, anti-CDw92 antibody, anti-CD93 antibody, anti-CD111 antibody, anti-CD112 antibody, anti-CD123 antibody, anti-CD141 antibody, anti-CD156a antibody, anti-CD170 antibody, anti-TCRg/d antibody, anti-CD235a antibody, anti-CD282 antibody, and anti-CDw329 antibody, anti-137-Integrin antibody or mixtures.
  • anti-CD14 antibody, anti-CD15 antibody, anti-CD16 antibody, and/or anti-CD66b antibody can be used for the specific depletion of non-CD4+ T cells from the sample.
  • the advantage of using one or more antibody/antibodies selected from anti-CD14 antibody, anti-CD15 antibody, anti-CD16 antibody, and anti-CD66b antibody for the specific depletion of non-CD4+ T cells is that this subset of antibodies is small compared to some commercially available subsets.
  • anti-CD14 antibody and/or anti-CD16 antibody and/or anti-CD66b antibody can be used for the specific depletion of non-CD4+ T cells from the sample.
  • Preferred according to the present invention is further a method, wherein at least one of the antibodies used in step (a) is labelled or immobilized.
  • labelled means that a molecule, e.g. an antibody, is conjugated to a label.
  • a label e.g. an antibody
  • many different labels that can be conjugated to an antibody are known to the skilled artisan.
  • radioisotopes e.g. 32 P, 35 S or 3 H
  • fluorescence or luminescence markers e.g.
  • FITC fluorescein
  • PE phycoerythrin
  • 6-FAM 6-carboxyfluorescein
  • JE 6-carboxy-X-rhodamine
  • HEX 6-carboxy-2′,4′,7′,4,7-hexachlorofluorescein
  • 5-FAM 5-carboxyfluorescein
  • TAMRA N,N,N′,N′-tetramethyl-6-carboxyrhodamine
  • F(ab)2 fragment F(ab)2 fragment; affinity labels, e.g. biotin, avidin, agarose, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), matrix bound, haptens; and enzymes or enzyme substrates, e.g. alkaline phosphatase (AP) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP).
  • affinity labels e.g. biotin, avidin, agarose, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), matrix bound, haptens
  • enzymes or enzyme substrates e.g. alkaline phosphatase (AP) and horseradish peroxidase (HRP).
  • immobilized refers to any support to which an antibody can be linked to while retaining its activity.
  • the support may be the surface of a matrix, e.g. a nylon matrix; a microtiter plate or a similar solid plastic support; beads, e.g. agarose or magentic beads.
  • Immobilized antibodies are for example described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,985 and in references cited therein.
  • labelled or immobilized antibodies can be easier used with standard equipment and also an adaptation to standard isolation techniques is facilitated.
  • At least one antibody used in step (a) is immobilized.
  • At least one antibody used in step (a) is immobilized on a nylon matrix.
  • the advantage of immobilizing an antibody on a nylon matrix lies in that immobilization on nylon matrices is very efficient and allows a flexible, easy, fast, simple and inexpensive column-based isolation of cells. Immobilisation on a nylon matrix is, for example, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,985.
  • the antibodies used in step (a) can be uniformly labelled.
  • the advantage of uniformly labelling the antibodies lies in that the antibodies can be detected all at once.
  • the label can be selected from the group comprising isotopes, fluorescence or luminescence markers, antibodies or antibody fragments, affinity labels, and enzymes or enzyme substrates.
  • the anti-CD25 antibody can be labelled with biotin, fluorescein (FITC) or phycoerythrin (PE).
  • FITC fluorescein
  • PE phycoerythrin
  • the anti-CD127 antibody can be labelled with biotin, fluorescein (FITC) or phycoerythrin (PE).
  • FITC fluorescein
  • PE phycoerythrin
  • the anti-CD49d antibody can be labelled with biotin, fluorescein (FITC) or phycoerythrin (PE).
  • FITC fluorescein
  • PE phycoerythrin
  • step (b) can be carried out using centrifugation, particularly, density gradient centrifugation, cell elutriation, magnetic separation, fluorescence activated cell sorting, immunological separation, adhesion, complement lysis or flow cytometry.
  • centrifugation particularly, density gradient centrifugation, cell elutriation, magnetic separation, fluorescence activated cell sorting, immunological separation, adhesion, complement lysis or flow cytometry.
  • step (b) can be carried out using magnetic cell separation, fluorescence activated cell sorting, or a column-based immunological separation.
  • column-based immunological separation refers to a way of sorting cells, where antibodies employed in the method according to the invention can be attached to resins of chromatography columns and used to bind a cell that possesses an antigen recognized by the specific antibody.
  • an anti-CD45RO antibody can be used as an additional antibody in step (a), and the isolated Foxp3+ Treg cells are CD45RA+ T cells.
  • step (a) lies in that a specific subset of Foxp3+ Treg cells, namely CD45RA+ T cells can be isolated in a highly efficient manner and a very high purity.
  • an anti-CD45RA antibody can be used as an additional antibody in step (a), and the isolated Foxp3+ Treg cells are CD45RO+ T cells.
  • step (a) lies in that a specific subset of Foxp3+ Treg cells, namely CD45RO+ T cells can be isolated in a highly efficient manner and a very high purity.
  • kits for isolating human Foxp3+ Treg cells comprising an anti-CD49d antibody and an anti-CD25 antibody or an anti-CD49d antibody and an anti-CD127 antibody.
  • kit according to the present invention can comprise an anti-CD49d antibody, anti-CD25 antibody and an anti-CD127 antibody.
  • the kit according to the present invention can additionally comprise one or more antibody/antibodies selected from the group comprising anti-CD8 antibody, anti-CD10 antibody, anti-CD14 antibody, anti-CD15 antibody, anti-CD16 antibody, anti-CD19 antibody, anti-CD35 antibody, anti-CD36 antibody, anti-CD49b antibody, anti-CD56 antibody, anti-CD66a antibody, anti-CD66b antibody, anti-CD66c antibody, anti-CD66d antibody, anti-CD89 antibody, anti-CDw92 antibody, anti-CD93 antibody, anti-CD111 antibody, anti-CD112 antibody, anti-CD123 antibody, anti-CD141 antibody, anti-CD156a antibody, anti-CD170 antibody, anti-TCRg/d antibody, anti-CD235a antibody, anti-CD282 antibody, and anti-CDw329 antibody, anti- ⁇ 7-Integrin antibody or mixtures.
  • antibody/antibodies selected from the group comprising anti-CD8 antibody, anti-CD10 antibody, anti-CD14 antibody, anti-CD15 antibody,
  • kit of the present invention can contain at least one antibody that is immobilized.
  • kit according to the invention can contain at least one antibody that is labelled.
  • the kit of the present invention can contain antibodies that are uniformly labelled.
  • kits according to the invention can contain labelled antibodies, wherein the label can be selected from the group comprising isotopes, fluorescence or luminescence markers, antibodies or antibody fragments, affinity labels, and enzymes or enzyme substrates.
  • the kit can contain an anti-CD127 antibody, an anti-CD25 antibody, and/or an anti-CD49d antibody which can be labelled with biotin, FITC, or PE.
  • one of its objects is solved by a use of (i) an anti-CD49d antibody, (ii) anti-CD49d antibody in combination with anti-CD25 antibody and/or anti-CD127 antibody, or (iii) of a kit according to the invention for the isolation of human Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • an anti-CD49d antibody in combination with an anti-CD25 antibody and/or an anti-CD127 antibody; or a kit according to the invention can be used for the isolation of human Foxp3+ Treg cells from a sample containing (i) peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), (ii) a lymphocyte containing fluid, or (iii) a lymphocyte containing tissue.
  • PBMCs peripheral blood mononuclear cells
  • the use according to the invention can be characterized in that separation of the human Foxp3+ Treg cells can be achieved by separating CD49d+ PBMCs including non-regulatory CD4+ T cells from Foxp3+ Treg cells via centrifugation, cell elutriation, magnetic separation, fluorescence activated cell sorting, immunological separation, adhesion, complement lysis or flow cytometry.
  • the use according to the invention can be characterized in that depletion of non-CD4+ T cells from the sample can be carried out using at least one antibody selected from the group comprising anti-CD8 antibody, anti-CD10 antibody, anti-CD14 antibody, anti-CD15 antibody, anti-CD16 antibody, anti-CD19 antibody, anti-CD35 antibody, anti-CD36 antibody, anti-CD49b antibody, anti-CD56 antibody, anti-CD66a antibody, anti-CD66b antibody, anti-CD66c antibody, anti-CD66d antibody, anti-CD89 antibody, anti-CDw92 antibody, anti-CD93 antibody, anti-CD111 antibody, anti-CD112 antibody, anti-CD123 antibody, anti-CD141 antibody, anti-CD156a antibody, anti-CD170 antibody, anti-TCRg/d antibody, anti-CD235a antibody, anti-CD282 antibody, and anti-CDw329 antibody, anti-137-Integrin antibody or mixtures.
  • at least one antibody selected from the group comprising anti-CD8 antibody, anti-CD
  • FIG. 1 Inverse correlation of CD127 and CD49d with Foxp3 expression. Human PBMC were stained for CD4, CD25, CD127, CD49d and Foxp3 and analyzed by FACS. a. Double staining of human PBMC for CD4 and CD25. Percentage of CD4+ cells of total PBMC is indicated. b. Correlation of CD25, CD127 and CD49d with Foxp3 expression. Human PBMC were stained for CD4, CD25, CD127, CD49d and Foxp3 and analyzed by FACS. Co-staining of Foxp3 with CD25 (left panel), CD127 (middle panel and CD49d is shown for CD4+ cells gated according to FIG. 1 a . Numbers indicate percentage of cells in each quadrant.
  • FIG. 2 CD49d discriminates Foxp3+ Treg cells from Foxp3 ⁇ CD127 ⁇ cells.
  • a Foxp3 expression in CD127/CD49d subsets of CD4+ T cells. Human PBMC were stained for CD4, CD25, CD127, CD49d and Foxp3 and gated for CD4+ cells. Upper panel: co-staining of CD49d and CD127. Gates and percentages of the three major populations are indicated. Lower panels: Co-staining of CD25 and Foxp3 is shown for CD127+ (left panel), CD49d ⁇ CD127 ⁇ (middle panel) and CD49d+CD127 ⁇ cells (right panel). Percentages represent the number of CD25+Foxp3+ Treg cells in the indicated quadrant.
  • b Foxp3 expression in CD127/CD49d subsets of CD4+ T cells. Human PBMC were stained for CD4, CD25, CD127, CD49d and Foxp3 and gated for CD4+ cells. Upper panel: co-staining of CD49d
  • Proliferation of CD4+ cells was induced by ⁇ -CD3 antibodies, suppressor cells were added at a ratio of 1:2. Suppression is expressed as ‘% inhibition’ and was calculated by the fraction of dividing cells in reference to number of dividing ⁇ -CD3 stimulated CD4+ cells.
  • FIG. 3 Isolation of untouched Foxp3+ Treg cells from CD4+ T cells by MACS. Untouched CD4+ cells of human PBMC isolated by MACS with a commercial CD4 isolation kit were depleted by MACS in a second step of CD127/CD49d-expressing cells.
  • a FACS analysis of depleted cells. FACS plots are shown for the CD4+ cell population prior to the depletion (left panels) and for the cells remaining after CD49d/CD127 depletion (right panels). Data is shown for the staining CD49d vs. CD127 (upper panels) and CD25 vs. Foxp3 (lower panels). Percentage refers to the number of cells in each quadrant.
  • b Suppressive capacity.
  • CD4+ T cells depleted of CD49d/CD127+ cells were used as suppressor cells (Treg) in a FACS-based in vitro assay.
  • CD4+ effector cells removed by the depletion were labeled with CFDA and used as responder cells.
  • the panels indicate the CFDA staining of CD4+ cells without any stimulation (upper panel), after incubation with ⁇ -CD3 (middle panel) or after incubation with ⁇ -CD3 in the presence of untouched Treg cells at a ratio of 1:1 (lower panel). Numbers represent the percentage of dividing CD4 effector cells.
  • FIG. 4 Isolation of untouched Treg cells from PBMC.
  • Treg cells were isolated by MACS-depletion from total PBMC.
  • a. Depletion with ⁇ -CD49d/ ⁇ -CD127 only. Depletion of human PBMC was carried out with ⁇ -CD49d and ⁇ -CD127 as described in FIG. 3 except that total PBMC instead of purified CD4+ cells were used.
  • b. Single-step depletion with ⁇ -CD49d/ ⁇ -CD127 in combination with a CD4+ T cell isolation kit. To increase the purity ⁇ -CD127 and ⁇ -CD49d was added to the antibody mix of a commercial CD4+ T cell isolation kit. The staining of CD49d vs. CD127 and of CD25 vs. Foxp3 is shown for PBMC prior to depletion (left panels) and for the bead-negative fraction obtained after the depletion (right panels). Numbers indicate the percentage of cells in each quadrant.
  • FIG. 5 Inhibition of mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) in vitro and prevention of GvHD in vivo.
  • MLR mixed lymphocyte reaction
  • Untouched Treg cells were isolated from human PBMC by a single-step CD127/CD49d ⁇ depletion as described in FIG. 4 .
  • Proliferation was determined by 3 H-thymidine incorporation and is expressed as ‘counts per minute’ (cpm).
  • b. Prevention of acute GvHD Acute xeno-GvHD was induced by the adoptive transfer of 30 ⁇ 10 6 CD25 depleted human PBMC (CD25 ⁇ PBMC) into Rag2 ⁇ / ⁇ c ⁇ / ⁇ mice. Progression of the disease was recorded by determining the weight loss (left panel). One group received only CD25 ⁇ PBMC (filled circle), a second group received CD25 ⁇ PBMC together with 0.5 ⁇ 10 6 untouched autologous Treg cells in a co-transfer (open circle). Groups of 6 mice were used; the average relative weight was determined in reference to the start of the experiment and is expressed as ‘percent weight loss’. Incidence of clinical signs (ruffled fur, hunched posture and immobility) and death is indicated in the right panel.
  • FIG. 6 Purification of CD25+ Treg cells by ⁇ -CD49d depletion.
  • a Segregation of CD49d expression with cytokine secretion. Cytokine secreting CD4+ cells express CD49d.
  • CD4+ T cells were stimulated in vitro with PMA/ionomycin and analyzed 6 h later by FACS. Staining of total CD4+ cells (upper panels) and Foxp3+CD4+ cells (lower panels) is shown for CD49d vs. IL-17 (upper left panel) or for CD49d vs. IFN- ⁇ (upper right panel). Percentages of total CD4+ cells refer to number of cells per quadrant.
  • Percentages of Foxp3-gated CD4+ cells refer to the fraction of CD49d+ or CD49d ⁇ cells, percentage of cytokine secreting cells in the dashed gate are in reference to the number of CD49d+ cells.
  • CD49d removes Th1- and Th17-like cells from CD25 high Treg preparations. Human Treg cells are characterized by CD25 high expression. PBMC were stained with ⁇ -CD4, ⁇ -CD25 and ⁇ -CD49d and sorted by FACS into the the CD4+ subsets CD49d+CD25 high and CD49d-CD25 high . The sorted cell subsets were activated with PMA/ionomycin and stained intracellular for IFN- ⁇ and IL-17. Percentages represent the number of cells in the indicated quadrant.
  • FIG. 7 Enrichment of Foxp3+ Treg by depletion of CD49d+ cells from human CD4+ T cells.
  • Human CD4+ cells were depleted by CD49d and analyzed by FACS for CD25 and Foxp3 expression.
  • Left panels Total CD4+ cells
  • right panels CD49d depleted CD4+ cells. Staining is shown for CD25 vs. Foxp3 (upper row) and Foxp3 vs. CD49d (lower row). Numbers indicate percentage of cells in each gate.
  • FIG. 8 Removal of cytokine producing effector cells from CD127 ⁇ Treg preparations. The experiment was carried out as in FIG. 2 a except that purified CD4+ T cell subset were stimulated after the sorting with PMA/ionomycin to measure the cytokine production. The FACS analysis was carried out as in FIG. 2 a except that the cells were stained intracellular with ⁇ -IFN- ⁇ and ⁇ -IL-17.
  • Antibodies specific for CD4 RPA-T4
  • CD25 MA251
  • CD127 hIL-7R-M21
  • Anti-IFN- ⁇ was purchased from Miltenyi Biotech (45-15).
  • Anti-CD49d (BU49) was obtained from ImmunoTools.
  • ⁇ -CD3 (UCHT-1) was produced at the MDC.
  • ⁇ Foxp3 PCH101
  • ⁇ -IL-17 eBio64CAP17
  • PBMC Human PBMC were obtained from healthy volunteers. Mononuclear cells were isolated by Ficoll gradient centrifugation (GE Healthcare). FACS analysis was carried out on a FACSCalibur or LSR II instrument (BD Bioscience). Data were analysed using FACSDiva software (BD Bioscience), CellQuest (BD Bioscience) or Flowjo software (Treestar).
  • cytokine secretion was determined by intracellular staining with ⁇ -IL-17 and ⁇ -IFN- ⁇ using MACS- or FACS-sorted CD4+ T cell subsets. Cells were used either freshly or maintained overnight in RPMI, supplemented with 50 U/ml IL-2, before stimulation.
  • MACS sorted hCD4-isolation kit II/Miltenyi Biotech
  • ⁇ -CD49d-FITC ⁇ -CD49d-FITC
  • Cells were stained with ⁇ -CD49d-FITC and ⁇ -CD127-PE for 10′ at 4-8° C. After washing with MACS buffer, cells were resuspended in MACS buffer and sorted on the cell sorter. Untouched Treg cells were obtained using a sorting gate for CD49d ⁇ CD127 ⁇ cells.
  • FACS-sortings of CD25+ cells human PBMC were stained with ⁇ -CD49d, ⁇ -CD4 and ⁇ -CD25 for 10′ at 4-8° C. After washing with MACS buffer, cells were resuspended in MACS buffer and sorted on the cell sorter using a sorting gate for CD4+CD25 high CD49d+ or CD4+CD25 high CD49d ⁇ cells. Dead cells were excluded by propidium iodide (Sigma).
  • CD4+ effector cells were labelled with 0.5 ⁇ M 5-carboxyfluorescein diacetate (CFDA; Molecular Probes) as described before (Kleinewietfeld, M. et al. Blood 105, 2877-86 (2005)).
  • CD4+ effector T cells (25.000 cells/well) were incubated with irradiated CD4-depleted PBMC (50.000 cells/well; 3000 rad) and 10 ⁇ g/ml anti-CD3 (UCHT-1) for 3-4 days in 96 well V-bottom plates (Costar). For T cell suppression Treg cells were added at the indicated ratio. Proliferation of CD4+ T cells was analyzed by FACS.
  • MLR Mixed Lymphocyte Reaction
  • mice An acute form of GvHD was induced in Rag2 ⁇ / ⁇ ⁇ c ⁇ / ⁇ mice (purchased from Taconic) as described before 9 .
  • PBMC peripheral blood mononuclear cells
  • Treg cells were obtained from PBMC of healthy donors using the one step procedure.
  • mice received i.v. 0.2 ml clodronate-containing liposomes. 4 h prior to the transfer of cells, mice were irradiated (350 rad).
  • CD127 and CD49d are inversely correlated with Foxp3.
  • CD4+ T cells FOG. 1 a
  • CD25 high the level of the IL-2 receptor ⁇ -chain CD25
  • CD25 low the amount of CD25
  • Treg separations based on this marker therefore have an inherent risk of being contaminated by these cells.
  • CD25 expression on Treg cells is driven directly by Foxp3 (Hori, S., Nomura, T. & Sakaguchi, S., Science 299, 1057-61 (2003)). Counterstaining with Foxp3 therefore indicates a near linear correlation for the CD25 high cells, in which cells expressing the highest amounts of Foxp3 also stain brightest for CD25 ( FIG. 1 b , left panel).
  • the ⁇ -chain of the IL-7 receptor (CD127) is inversely correlated with Foxp3 expression (Liu, W. et al., J Exp Med 203, 1701-11 (2006); Seddiki, N. et al., J Exp Med 203, 1693-700 (2006)) ( FIG. 1 b , middle panel). Also here the correlation is nearly linear, but cells with highest level of Foxp3 have the lowest expression level of CD127. The segregation, however, is not complete. In the example shown in FIG. 1 b (middle panel), about 2 ⁇ 3 of the CD127 ⁇ cells were also Foxp3 ⁇ . For the characterization of Treg cells CD127 is therefore always used in combination with CD25 (Liu, W. et al., J Exp Med 203, 1701-11 (2006); Seddiki, N. et al., J Exp Med 203, 1693-700 (2006)).
  • CD49d is the ⁇ -chain of the integrin VLA-4 ( ⁇ 4 ⁇ 1 ). Also here the co-segregation is incomplete ( FIG. 1 b , right panel). An inverse linear correlation with Foxp3, as observed for CD127, however, does apparently not exist. Double-staining instead revealed absence of CD49d in Foxp3+ cells independent of the level of Foxp3 expression.
  • CD49d Discriminates Foxp3+ Treg Cells from Foxp3 ⁇ CD127 ⁇ Cells
  • CD127 and CD49d may complement each other.
  • Double-staining with ⁇ -CD127 and ⁇ -CD49d allowed dividing the population of CD4+ cells into the three major populations: CD127+, CD49d+CD127 ⁇ and CD49d-CD127 ⁇ cells ( FIG. 2 a , upper panel).
  • Staining with ⁇ -CD25 and ⁇ -Foxp3 confirmed that the vast majority of the CD127+ cells were non-regulatory CD25 ⁇ Foxp3 ⁇ cells ( FIG. 2 a , lower left panel). More importantly, CD49d divided the CD127 ⁇ subset into two nearly equally large subpopulations.
  • CD49d+CD127 ⁇ cells were Foxp3 ⁇ , only less than 18% were CD25+Foxp3+ ( FIG. 2 a , lower right panel).
  • the CD49d ⁇ CD127 ⁇ population in contrast, consisted almost exclusively of Foxp3+ cells. More than 83% of the cells were CD25+Foxp3+ Treg which express high levels of Foxp3 ( FIG. 2 a , lower middle panel).
  • CD49d+CD127 ⁇ and CD49d ⁇ CD127 ⁇ cells were isolated by FACS sorting from CD4+ PBMC ( FIG. 2 b ). Almost no inhibition was observed with the CD49d+CD127 ⁇ subset ( FIG. 2 c ). In contrast, CD4+ cells sorted only based on the absence of CD49d and CD127 effectively prevented the expansion of activated CD25 ⁇ CD4+ cells. Thus, the use of CD49d allows discriminating the non-suppressive CD127 ⁇ cells from functional Foxp3+ Treg cells.
  • FIG. 3 a lower panels.
  • CD4+ effector cells were labelled with CFDA to monitor the proliferation. Without any stimulation the cells did not divide ( FIG. 3 b , upper panel) but stimulation with ⁇ -CD3 triggered a proliferative response indicated by the reduced CFDA fluorescence of about 45% of the cells ( FIG. 3 b , middle panel).
  • Treg cells inhibited the proliferation to 14%, which mostly stopped the expansion already after a single replication cycle ( FIG. 3 b , lower panel).
  • untouched Treg cells isolated by MACS-depletion with ⁇ -CD127 and ⁇ -CD49d are fully able to suppress autologous CD4+ effector cells in vitro.
  • CD49d The selectivity of CD49d is particularly striking when using total PBMC instead of pre-purified CD4+ cells ( FIG. 4 ).
  • CD127 which is absent on almost half of the PBMC
  • CD49d+CD127 ⁇ Within total PBMC 40-50% were CD49d+CD127 ⁇ , leaving only about 2-4% of CD49d ⁇ CD127 ⁇ cells.
  • the depletion of CD49d+/CD127+ cells alone was therefore already sufficient to obtain untouched Foxp3+ cells directly from PBMC with a purity >75% (11.8% CD25 ⁇ Foxp3+, 64.3% CD25+Foxp3+; FIG. 4 a ).
  • the purity could be further increased when ⁇ -CD49d/ ⁇ -CD127 was added to the antibody mixture of a commercial CD4+ T cell isolation kit ( FIG. 4 b ).
  • FACS-analysis of the PBMC fraction after depletion revealed here that >90% were Foxp3+ cells (76.2% CD25+Foxp3+, 14.1% CD25 ⁇ Foxp3+).
  • the purity of the cells obtained by single-step PBMC depletion was therefore comparable to the purity obtained with previously isolated CD4+ T cells (compare FIG. 3 ).
  • MLR mixed lymphocyte reaction
  • the MLR experiment clearly demonstrated the suppressive capacity of the isolated Treg cells in vitro. With regard to future therapeutic applications it is crucial, however, to demonstrate that untouched Treg cells can also suppress destructive immune responses in vivo.
  • an acute GvHD in vivo model was used, which is based on the transfer of CD25-depleted human PBMC into Rag2 ⁇ / ⁇ c ⁇ / ⁇ mice (Mutis, T. et al., Clin Cancer Res 12, 5520-5 (2006)).
  • the elimination of Treg cells from the transferred cell population allows simulating a particularly aggressive form of the disease which frequently leads to the death of the animals.
  • Treg cells from PBMC were depleted by MACS using ⁇ -CD25 microbeads, untouched Treg cells were isolated again in a single step by combined use of ⁇ -CD127/ ⁇ -CD49d together with a commercial CD4+ isolation kit (according to example 4, FIG. 4 b ). All mice that received 30 ⁇ 10 6 CD25-depleted PBMC exhibited a more or less pronounced weight loss within the first days of the experiment ( FIG. 5 b ). 4 of the 6 mice developed clinical symptoms and of these 2 mice died during the experiment. In line with a previous publication the severity of PBMC-induced GvHD was diminished when autologous Treg cells were co-transferred (Mutis, T.
  • untouched Treg cells were sufficient to completely abrogate the weight loss and all mice of the treated group remained without symptoms for the entire course of the experiment.
  • untouched Treg cells isolated by CD127/CD49d-depletion are potent suppressor cells capable to control destructive immune responses both in vitro and in vivo.
  • CD25 is expressed in high amounts by Treg cells (CD25 high ). In humans, however, the marker is expressed in lower amounts also by proinflammatory cells including effector and memory CD4+ T cells (Baecher-Allan et al., J Immunol. 167:1245-53 (2001)) and activated CD4+ T cells transiently expressing Foxp3 (Allan et al., Int Immunol. 19:345-54(2007)). In contrast to Treg cells these effector cells are able to secrete proinflammatory cytokines such as IFN- ⁇ or IL-17. As shown in FIG. 6 a , CD49d expression segregates with the ability to secrete cytokines.
  • CD49d can be used to remove contaminating cytokine secreting effector cells from Treg preparations based on CD25-isolation.
  • FACS-sorting FIG. 6 b
  • pure Treg cells can be obtained by gating on the CD49d-CD25 high CD4+ subset, for MACS-sorting the cells will be depleted with ⁇ -CD49d prior to the sorting procedures involving positive isolation with ⁇ -CD25.
  • CD49d is absent on the majority of Foxp3+ Treg cells, they can be significantly enriched by the depletion of CD49d+ cells from total CD4+ T cells.
  • Human CD4+ T cells were depleted of all CD49d+ cells by MACS and analysed for Foxp3 expression and compared to total CD4+ T cells.
  • Foxp3+ Treg can already be enriched up to 4-5 fold by the depletion of CD49d+ cells from human CD4+ T cells. Even more importantly, most of the cytokine producing cells are removed from this subset as cytokine secretion segregates with this marker ( FIG. 6 a ).
  • CD49d In combination with CD127 CD49d allows the isolation of untouched Treg cells ( FIG. 2 ). Moreover, the segregation of CD49d with cytokine production also allows not only to remove Foxp3 ⁇ cells but also the Th1- or Th17-like cells contaminating the CD127 ⁇ Treg preparations. As shown in FIG. 8 , activation of CD4+ cell subsets sorted according to their CD49d and CD127 expression clearly reveals that IFN-g or IL-17 producing cells are absent from the CD49d-CD127 ⁇ subset but present among the CD49d+CD127 ⁇ subset.
  • the binding of antibodies to cell surface receptors during purification may also alter the functional state.
  • the molecule targeted during positive sorting of Treg cells is CD25.
  • the CD49d/CD127 can be adapted to all common separation methods. For example, the method can be performed using only a single MACS column. Thus, isolation does not require expensive equipment and is faster and easier than conventional MACS-based methods.
  • Treg cells are obtained by a significantly higher degree of purity >70%, >80%, >90%, >95%, or even >98% with virtually no contaminating CD4+ effector cells. Moreover, the Treg cells are isolated untouched, which further improves compatibility of the procedure with GMP.
  • the method of the present invention offers a simple and cost effective way to isolate human Foxp3+ Treg cells. Additionally, the ‘untouched’ status of the cells, high purity and GMP compatibility of the method make the method widely applicable in different settings.
  • the new method can therefore be employed to access ‘untouched’ human Treg cells for research & development, diagnosis and also offers a new perspective for their routine use for the manufacture of medicaments for immunotherapies.

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