A synthetic cytotoxic T cell platform for rapidly prototyping TCR function.

Current tools for functionally profiling T cell receptors with respect to cytotoxic potency and cross-reactivity are hampered by difficulties in establishing model systems to test these proteins in the contexts of different HLA alleles and against broad arrays of potential antigens. We have implemented a granzyme-activatable sensor of T cell cytotoxicity in a universal prototyping platform which enables facile recombinant expression of any combination of TCR-, peptide-, and class I MHC-coding sequences and direct assessment of resultant responses. This system consists of an engineered cell platform based on the immortalized natural killer cell line, YT-Indy, and the MHC-null antigen-presenting cell line, K562.

Discovery and preclinical development of a therapeutically active nanobody-based chimeric antigen receptor targeting human CD22.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies targeting B cell-restricted antigens CD19, CD20, or CD22 can produce potent clinical responses for some B cell malignancies, but relapse remains common. Camelid single-domain antibodies (sdAbs or nanobodies) are smaller, simpler, and easier to recombine than single-chain variable fragments (scFvs) used in most CARs, but fewer sdAb-CARs have been reported. Thus, we sought to identify a therapeutically active sdAb-CAR targeting human CD22.

The Travels of Signet-Ring Cell Carcinoma: From Colon to Stomach and Duodenum.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) metastasizing to the stomach and duodenum is rare. Even rarer is when the CRC subtype is signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC). Endoscopic findings of CRC metastasis to the stomach have been described as solitary and submucosal while duodenal metastasis has been observed to be exophytic.

A Synthetic Cytotoxic T cell Platform for Rapidly Prototyping TCR Function.

Current tools for functionally profiling T cell receptors with respect to cytotoxic potency and cross-reactivity are hampered by difficulties in establishing model systems to test these proteins in the contexts of different HLA alleles and against broad arrays of potential antigens. We have implemented and validated a granzyme-activatable sensor of T cell cytotoxicity in a novel universal prototyping platform which enables facile recombinant expression of any combination of TCR-, peptide-, and class I MHC-coding sequences and direct assessment of resultant responses. This system consists of an engineered cell platform based on the immortalized natural killer cell line, YT-Indy, and the MHC-null antigen-presenting cell line, K562.

Meis1 establishes the pre-hemogenic endothelial state prior to Runx1 expression.

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) originate from an endothelial-to-hematopoietic transition (EHT) during embryogenesis. Characterization of early hemogenic endothelial (HE) cells is required to understand what drives hemogenic specification and to accurately define cells capable of undergoing EHT. Using Cellular Indexing of Transcriptomes and Epitopes by Sequencing (CITE-seq), we define the early subpopulation of pre-HE cells based on both surface markers and transcriptomes.