PMID: 9551966Apr 29, 1998Paper

Harnessing Syk family tyrosine kinases as signaling domains for chimeric single chain of the variable domain receptors: optimal design for T cell activation

The Journal of Immunology : Official Journal of the American Association of Immunologists
C J Fitzer-AttasZ Eshhar

Abstract

T cells of tumor bearers often show defective TCR-mediated signaling events and, therefore, exhibit impaired immune responses. As such, patients with heavy tumor burden are often not amenable to adoptive T cell therapy. To overcome this limitation, we have developed a chimeric receptor that joins an extracellular single chain Fv (scFv) of a specific Ab for Ag recognition to an intracellular protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) for signal propagation. Stimulation through the scFv-PTK receptor should bypass defective TCR-proximal events and directly access the T cell's effector mechanisms. In this study we describe the optimization of a scFv-PTK configuration, leading to complete T cell activation. The cytosolic PTK Syk is superior to its family member, Zap-70, for intracellular signaling. As a transmembrane (TM) domain, CD4 performs better than CD8 when plastic-immobilized Ag serves as a stimulator. However, when APC are used to trigger chimeric receptors, the need for a flexible spacer between the scFv and TM domains becomes apparent. The CD8alpha-derived hinge successfully performs this task in chimeric scFv-Syk receptors regardless of its cysteine content. A cytotoxic T cell hybridoma expressing chimeric receptor genes composed of s...Continue Reading

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