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Retroviral transfer of a dominant TCR prevents surface expression of a large proportion of the endogenous TCR repertoire in human T cells

Gene Therapy volume 15, pages 625–631 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The latent membrane protein-2 (LMP2) of Epstein–Barr virus is a potential target for T-cell receptor (TCR) gene therapy of Hodgkin lymphoma and nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Here, we modified a human leukocyte antigen-A2-restricted, LMP2-specific TCR to achieve efficient expression following retroviral TCR gene transfer. The unmodified TCR was poorly expressed in primary human T cells, suggesting that it competed inefficiently with endogenous TCR chains for cell surface expression. In order to improve this TCR, we replaced the human constant region with murine sequences, linked the two TCR genes using a self-cleaving 2A sequence and finally, codon optimized the TCR-α-2A-β cassette for efficient translation in human cells. Retroviral transfer of the modified TCR resulted in efficient surface expression and HLA-A2/LMP2 pentamer binding. The transduced cells showed peptide-specific interferon-γ and interleukin-2 production and killed target cells displaying the LMP2 peptide. Importantly, the introduced LMP2-TCR suppressed the cell surface expression of a large proportion of endogenous TCR combinations present in primary human T cells. The design of dominant TCR is likely to improve TCR gene therapy by reducing the risk of potential autoreactivity of endogenous and mispaired TCR combinations.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Leukaemia Research Fund, UK and by the EU-funded ATTACK project. HJS and ECM are consultants for Cell Medica.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Immunology and Molecular Pathology, Royal Free Hospital,

    D P Hart, S-A Xue, S Thomas, M Cesco-Gaspere, A Tranter, E C Morris & H J Stauss

  2. University College London, London, UK

    D P Hart, S-A Xue, S Thomas, M Cesco-Gaspere, A Tranter, E C Morris & H J Stauss

  3. CRUK Institute for Cancer Studies, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK

    B Willcox, S P Lee & N Steven

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  1. D P Hart
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Correspondence to H J Stauss.

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Hart, D., Xue, SA., Thomas, S. et al. Retroviral transfer of a dominant TCR prevents surface expression of a large proportion of the endogenous TCR repertoire in human T cells. Gene Ther 15, 625–631 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gt.3303078

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