DAP10 Costimulates Chimeric Receptor-Mediated T Cell Responses to Tumor Antigen.

Chimeric receptors (chRecs) combining extracellular recognition domains with the T cell receptor ζ an redirect the cellular immune response of primary T-cells to tumor cells. T cell activation by chRec induces efficient cytokine release and cytotoxicity, however, it fails to mediate proliferative responses, limiting the usefulness of chRec-gene-modified T cells for adoptive immunotherapy of cancer. Inclusion of a CD28 costimulatory signaling component in the chRec endodomain enhances antigen-specific proliferation. Whereas the signal mediated by ligation of CD28 is of crucial importance for the activation of resting CD4+ T cells, further molecules with costimulatory functions have contributory roles. NKG2D is a stimulatory receptor that was first identified in NK cells, but is also expressed in cytotoxic T cells and positively modulates CD8+ T cell immune responses. We hypothesized that inclusion of the NKG2D-associated signaling domain DAP10 would enhance the capacity of chRecs to induce tumor-specific activation and proliferation of in vitro expanded effector T cells. Based on a G_D2-specific scFv, we generated chRecs containing either the DAP10 signaling chain alone (14.G2a-DAP10) or combined with TCRζ 14.G2a-DAP10ζ), and expressed them in nonspecifically activated human peripheral blood T cells of three individual donors by retroviral gene transfer. As controls, T cells were transduced with 14.G2a-ζ and -CD28ζ chRec. High chRec surface expression was obtained with all four constructs (55±11%, ζ; 85±3, CD28ζ; 68±5%, DAP10; 78±1%; DAP10ζ). Immunophenotypes were dominated by a CD3+CD8+ population in all cell cultures. Whereas DAP10 alone failed to mediate specific tumor cell lysis, ⁵¹Cr release assays revealed efficient and comparable lysis of G_D2+ tumor targets by T cells transduced with all ζ-containing constructs, with 49±8% (ζ), 52±7% (CD28ζ), and 52±18% (DAP10ζ) cytolysis at an effector-to-target ratio of 40:1. Intracellular cytokine secretion by chRec+ T cells was induced in response to tumor targets by 14.G2a-ζ (up to 37% IFN-γ secreting cells), CD28ζ, and DAPζ (both up to 22%), but not by DAP10 alone (0,2%). Weekly stimulation with tumor cells for 6 weeks induced only limited expansion of T cells transduced with 14.G2a-ζ (7–45fold) or with 14.G2a-DAP10 (14–26-fold). Adding CD28 or DAP10 domains significantly enhanced expansion by a comparable degree (270–483-fold and 126–436-fold, respectively). Thus, while neither CD28 nor DAP10 enhances antigen-specific cytokine secretion and cytolysis, DAP10 signaling can completely replace CD28 signaling in costimulating antigen-specific proliferation of peripheral blood T cells. DAP10-containing chRec may be a powerful new tool for adoptive immunotherapy of cancer.