Published July 1, 2025 | Version Published
Journal Article Open

Human cancer-targeted immunity via transgenic hematopoietic stem cell progeny

Abstract

Adoptive transfer of genetically engineered T cells expressing a tumor-antigen-specific transgenic T cell receptor (TCR) can result in clinical responses in a variety of malignancies. However, these responses are frequently short-lived, and patients typically relapse within several months. This phenomenon is largely due to poor persistence of the transgenic T cells, as well as a progressive loss of their functionality and terminal differentiation in vivo. This underscores the need for cell therapy approaches able to sustain the initial antitumor efficacy and lead to long-term antitumor efficacy. Herein, we report the use of tandem cell therapies involving autologous T cells and hematopoietic stem cells engineered to express the NY-ESO-1 TCR for the treatment of solid tumors in a first-in-human phase I clinical trial (NCT03240861). This therapy is shown to be safe, feasible, and leads to initial tumor regression activity. T cell progeny from the HSC progenitors is shown to provide circulating transgenic NY-ESO-1 TCR-T cells, which display tumor-antigen-specific antitumor functionality, without any evidence of anergy or exhaustion. These results demonstrate the utility of transgenic HSCs to generate a self-renewing source of tumor-specific cellular immunotherapy in human participants. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT NCT03240861

Copyright and License

© The Author(s) 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Acknowledgement

This study was funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant CLIN2-11380. T.S.N. was further supported by NIH grant K08 CA241088, Hyundai Hope on Wheels, the Tower Cancer Research Foundation. This study was additionally funded in part by the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), NIH grant R35 CA197633 and the Ressler Family Fund (to A.R.). N.N.A. is supported by the Alan Ghitis Fellowship for Melanoma Research. N.F. is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health under the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute grant number UL1TR001881 and California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) INFR4 Alpha Clinic Network Expansion Award. D.B.K. is supported by endowment funds from the UCLA Eli and Edyth Broad Stem Cell Research Center. The authors gratefully acknowledge the NHLBI National Gene Vector Biorepository at Indiana University (PI Cornetta, P40HL116212) for assistance in the generation and maintenance of the NY-ESO-1 TCR retrovirus and NY-ESO-1 TCR/sr39TK lentivirus vectors. Flow cytometry was performed in the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and Center for AIDS Research Flow Cytometry Core Facility that is supported by National Institutes of Health awards P30 CA016042 and 5P30 AI028697, and by the JCCC, the UCLA AIDS Institute, the UCLA Technology Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics (TCGB) core lab, and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. The authors wish to acknowledge the participation of patients and their caregivers, and the patient care at the Hematology-Oncology Stem Cell Transplantation Unit at UCLA.

Funding

This study was funded by the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant CLIN2-11380. T.S.N. was further supported by NIH grant K08 CA241088, Hyundai Hope on Wheels, the Tower Cancer Research Foundation. This study was additionally funded in part by the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI), NIH grant R35 CA197633 and the Ressler Family Fund (to A.R.). N.N.A. is supported by the Alan Ghitis Fellowship for Melanoma Research. N.F. is supported by the National Center for Advancing Translational Science (NCATS) of the National Institutes of Health under the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute grant number UL1TR001881 and California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) INFR4 Alpha Clinic Network Expansion Award. D.B.K. is supported by endowment funds from the UCLA Eli and Edyth Broad Stem Cell Research Center. The authors gratefully acknowledge the NHLBI National Gene Vector Biorepository at Indiana University (PI Cornetta, P40HL116212) for assistance in the generation and maintenance of the NY-ESO-1 TCR retrovirus and NY-ESO-1 TCR/sr39TK lentivirus vectors. Flow cytometry was performed in the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center (JCCC) and Center for AIDS Research Flow Cytometry Core Facility that is supported by National Institutes of Health awards P30 CA016042 and 5P30 AI028697, and by the JCCC, the UCLA AIDS Institute, the UCLA Technology Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics (TCGB) core lab, and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Contributions

T.S.N. and A.R. served as principal investigators for the clinical trial and its design/execution. C.P-S., J.Z., D.B., L.Y., D.B.K., O.N.W., and A.R. conceived and developed the lentiviral vector and its implementation within the clinical protocol. T.S.N., N.N.A., C.W.P., and A.R. wrote the manuscript. I.B.C. and P.K-L. supervised clinical trial regulatory and compliance regulations. B.C-A, M.M., C.W.P., B.B-M., I.P.G., J.P., J.R., A.C., and A.V-C. conducted transgenic cell product manufacturing. T.S.N., A.S., B.C., N.F., G.M.S., S.J.L., and A.R. screened, enrolled, treated, and/or cared for patients on the clinical study protocol. B.C-A. and S.H. conducted flow cytometry analysis. N.N.A., C.W.P., M.K., and C.K. performed single-cell sequencing assays. N.N.A., E.M., and D.C. conducted the bioinformatics analysis. G.C. and M.A-A. designed, conducted, and interpreted the [18 F]-FHBG PET scans. C.W.P., M.K., and C.K. performed the antigen-dependent stimulation assays and ELISAs. A.M.K. assisted with statistical analysis and test design. All authors reviewed and edited the manuscript.

Data Availability

Raw sequencing data are available via dbGaP (accession number phs003898.v1; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gap/advanced_search/?TERM=phs003898.v1). Source data for other figures are provided as a Source Data file. All other data (PET/CT images) are available upon request from the corresponding author only due to patient confidentiality laws. Source data are provided with this paper.

Conflict of Interest

TSN reports consulting honoraria from Allogene Therapeutics, PACT Pharma, Adaptive Biotechnologies, and Medidata Solutions. NF has received honoraria for speaker’s bureaus and advisory boards from Bayer AG, Fennec Pharmaceuticals, and Springworks Therapeutics, and holds stock ownership in Moderna, Bolt Biotherapeutics, Regulus, Bluebird Bio, and 2seventy Bio. BC has received honoraria for consulting and advisory boards from Novartis, Delcath Systems, Instil Bio, Replimune, Atreca, Regeneron, Treeline Biosciences, and SpringWorks Therapeutics, and has received research funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Macrogenics, Karyopharm Therapeutics, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Advenchen Laboratories, Xencor, Compugen, Iovance Biotherapeutics, RAPT Therapeutics, IDEAYA Biosciences, Ascentage Pharma, Atreca. Replimune, Instil Bio, Adagene, TriSalus Life Sciences, Kinnate Biopharma, PTC Therapeutics, Xilio Therapeutics, Kezar Life Sciences, Immunocore, AskGene Pharma. O.N.W. currently has consulting, equity, and/or board relationships with Trethera Corporation, Kronos Biosciences, Sofie Biosciences, Breakthrough Properties, Vida Ventures, Nammi Therapeutics, Two River, Iconovir, Appia BioSciences, Neogene Therapeutics, 76Bio, and Allogene Therapeutics. A.R. has received honoraria from consulting with Amgen and Roche-Genentech, is or has been a member of the scientific advisory board, and holds stock in Appia, Apricity, Arcus, Compugen, CytomX, ImaginAb, ImmPact, Inspirna, Kite-Gilead, Larkspur, Lutris, MapKure, Merus, Synthekine, and Tango, has received research funding from Agilent and from Bristol-Myers Squibb through Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C), and patent royalties from Arsenal Bio. None of these companies contributed to or directed any of the research reported in this article. D.B. and L.Y. are inventors on patents related to this study filed by California Institute of Technology. All other authors have no competing interests to declare.

Supplemental Material

Description of Additional Supplementary Files

Supplementary Data 1

Supplementary Data 2

Supplementary Data 3

Supplementary Data 4

Supplementary Data 5

Supplementary Data 6

Reporting Summary

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Additional details

Identifiers

Related works

Describes
Journal Article: https://rdcu.be/eRAVp (ReadCube)
Journal Article: 40593578 (PMID)
Journal Article: PMC12219382 (PMCID)
Is supplemented by
Dataset: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gap/advanced_search/?TERM=phs003898.v1 (URL)

Funding

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
CLIN2-11380
National Cancer Institute
K08 CA241088
Hyundai Hope On Wheels
Tower Cancer Research Foundation
Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
National Cancer Institute
R35 CA197633
National Institutes of Health
UL1TR001881
California Institute for Regenerative Medicine
INFR4 Alpha Clinic
University of California, Los Angeles
Eli and Edyth Broad Stem Cell Research Center -
National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
P40HL116212
National Institutes of Health
P30 CA016042
National Institutes of Health
5P30 AI028697

Dates

Submitted
2024-09-27
Accepted
2025-05-29

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