Honing CAR T cells to tackle acute myeloid leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains a dismal disease with poor prognosis, particularly in the relapsed/refractory (r/r) setting. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy has yielded remarkable clinical results in other leukemias and thus has, in principle, the potential to achieve similar outcomes in r/r AML. Re-directing the approved CD19-specific CAR designs against the myeloid antigens CD33, CD123 or CLEC12A has occasionally yielded morphological leukemia-free states (MLFS) but has so far been marred by threatening myeloablation and early relapses.

HLA-independent T cell receptors for targeting tumors with low antigen density.

Chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) are receptors for antigen that direct potent immune responses. Tumor escape associated with low target antigen expression is emerging as one potential limitation of their efficacy. Here we edit the TRAC locus in human peripheral blood T cells to engage cell-surface targets through their T cell receptor-CD3 complex reconfigured to utilize the same immunoglobulin heavy and light chains as a matched CAR.

CCL22 controls immunity by promoting regulatory T cell communication with dendritic cells in lymph nodes.

Chemokines have crucial roles in organ development and orchestration of leukocyte migration. The chemokine CCL22 is expressed constitutively at high levels in the lymph node, but the functional significance of this expression is so far unknown. Studying a newly established CCL22-deficient mouse, we demonstrate that CCL22 expression by dendritic cells (DCs) promotes the formation of cell-cell contacts and interaction with regulatory T cells (T reg) through their CCR4 receptor.

Recent developments in immunotherapy of acute myeloid leukemia.

The advent of new immunotherapeutic agents in clinical practice has revolutionized cancer treatment in the past decade, both in oncology and hematology. The transfer of the immunotherapeutic concepts to the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is hampered by various characteristics of the disease, including non-leukemia-restricted target antigen expression profile, low endogenous immune responses, and intrinsic resistance mechanisms of the leukemic blasts against immune responses. However, considerable progress has been made in this field in the past few years.

Cancer cell-derived IL-1α induces CCL22 and the recruitment of regulatory T cells.

In cancer patients, immunosuppression through regulatory T cells (Treg) is a crucial component of tumor immune evasion and contributes to disease progression. Tumor-infiltrating Treg in particular suppress local effector T cell responses and are associated with poor prognosis in tumors such as human pancreatic cancer or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The chemokine CCL22 is known to recruit Treg into the tumor tissue and many types of human tumors are known to express high levels of CCL22.

Suppression of intratumoral CCL22 by type i interferon inhibits migration of regulatory T cells and blocks cancer progression.

The chemokine CCL22 is abundantly expressed in many types of cancer and is instrumental for intratumoral recruitment of regulatory T cells (Treg), an important subset of immunosuppressive and tumor-promoting lymphocytes. In this study, we offer evidence for a generalized strategy to blunt Treg activity that can limit immune escape and promote tumor rejection. Activation of innate immunity with Toll-like receptor (TLR) or RIG-I-like receptor (RLR) ligands prevented accumulation of Treg in tumors by blocking their immigration.