Fergusson, JR;
Wallace, Z;
Connolly, MM;
Woon, AP;
Suckling, RJ;
Hine, DW;
Barber, C;
... Knox, A; + view all
(2020)
Immune-Mobilizing Monoclonal T Cell Receptors Mediate Specific and Rapid Elimination of Hepatitis B-Infected Cells.
Hepatology
, 72
(5)
pp. 1528-1540.
10.1002/hep.31503.
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Abstract
Background and Aims: Therapies for chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are urgently needed because of viral integration, persistence of viral antigen expression, inadequate HBV‐specific immune responses, and treatment regimens that require lifelong adherence to suppress the virus. Immune mobilizing monoclonal T Cell receptors against virus (ImmTAV) molecules represent a therapeutic strategy combining an affinity‐enhanced T Cell receptor with an anti‐CD3 T Cell‐activating moiety. This bispecific fusion protein redirects T cells to specifically lyse infected cells expressing the target virus‐derived peptides presented by human leukocyte antigen (HLA). Approach and Results: ImmTAV molecules specific for HLA‐A*02:01‐restricted epitopes from HBV envelope, polymerase, and core antigens were engineered. The ability of ImmTAV‐Env to activate and redirect polyclonal T cells toward cells containing integrated HBV and cells infected with HBV was assessed using cytokine secretion assays and imaging‐based killing assays. Elimination of infected cells was further quantified using a modified fluorescent hybridization of viral RNA assay. Here, we demonstrate that picomolar concentrations of ImmTAV‐Env can redirect T cells from healthy and HBV‐infected donors toward hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells containing integrated HBV DNA resulting in cytokine release, which could be suppressed by the addition of a corticosteroid in vitro. Importantly, ImmTAV‐Env redirection of T cells induced cytolysis of antigen‐positive HCC cells and cells infected with HBV in vitro, causing a reduction of hepatitis B e antigen and specific loss of cells expressing viral RNA. Conclusions: The ImmTAV platform has the potential to enable the elimination of infected cells by redirecting endogenous non‐HBV‐specific T cells, bypassing exhausted HBV‐specific T cells. This represents a promising therapeutic option in the treatment of chronic hepatitis B, with our lead candidate now entering trials.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Immune-Mobilizing Monoclonal T Cell Receptors Mediate Specific and Rapid Elimination of Hepatitis B-Infected Cells |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1002/hep.31503 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/hep.31503 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2020 Immunocore Ltd. Hepatology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. |
| Keywords: | VIRAL CLEARANCE, VIRUS, THERAPY, PREVALENCE, PROTEINS, ENTRY |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Infection and Immunity |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10118469 |
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