Engineering Tolerance toward Allogeneic CAR-T Cells by Regulation of MHC Surface Expression with Human Herpes Virus-8 Proteins

Allogeneic, off-the-shelf (OTS) chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) cell therapies have the potential to reduce manufacturing costs and variability while providing broader accessibility to cancer patients and those with other diseases. However, host-versus-graft reactivity can limit the durability and efficacy of OTS cell therapies requiring new strategies to evade adaptive and innate-immune responses. Human herpes virus-8 (HHV8) maintains infection, in part, by evading host T and natural killer (NK) cell attack. The viral K3 gene encodes a membrane-tethered E3 ubiquitin ligase that discretely targets major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I components, whereas K5 encodes a similar E3 ligase with broader specificity, including MHC-II and the MHC-like MHC class I polypeptide-related sequence A (MIC-A)-and sequence B (MIC-B)-activating ligands of NK cells. We created gamma-retroviruses encoding K3 and/or K5 transgenes that efficiently transduce primary human T cells. Expression of K3 or K5 resulted in dramatic down regulation of MHC-IA (human leukocyte antigen [HLA]-A,-B, and-C) and MHC class II (HLA-DR) cell-surface expression. K3 expression was sufficient for T cells to resist exogenously loaded peptide-MHC-specific cytotoxicity, as well as recognition in one-way allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reactions. Further, in immunodeficient mice engrafted with allogeneic T cells, K3-transduced T cells selectively expanded in vivo. Ectopic K5 expression in MHC class I-, MIC-A(+)/B+ K562 cells also reduced targeting by primary NK cells. Coexpression of K3 in prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA)-directed, inducible MyD88/CD40 (iMC)-enhanced CAR-T cells did not impact cytotoxicity, T cell growth, or cytokine production against HPAC pancreatic tumor target cells, whereas K5-expressing cells showed a modest reduction in interleukin (IL)-2 production without effect on cytotoxicity. Together, these results support application of these E3 ligases to advance development of OTS CAR-T cell products.