Adoptive therapy with redirected primary regulatory T cells results in antigen-specific suppression of arthritis

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0907396106
• Publication Date: 2009-11-03T03:17:52Z
• Authors: Graham P. Wright; Clare A. Notley; Shao-An Xue; Gavin M. Bendle; Angelika Holler; Ton N. Schumacher; Michael R. Ehrens...; Hans J. Stauss
• Keywords: Genetic Vectors; Gene Transfer Techniques; T-Cell Antigen Receptor Specificity; Flow Cytometry; Adoptive Transfer; Autoantigens; Immunotherapy, Adoptive; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory; 3. Good health; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice; Retroviridae; Animals

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) can suppress a wide range of immune cells, making them an ideal candidate for the treatment of autoimmunity. The potential clinical translation of targeted therapy with antigen-specific Tregs is hampered by the difficulties of isolating rare specificities from the natural polyclonal T cell repertoire. Moreover, the initiating antigen is often unknown in autoimmune disease. Here we tested the ability of antigen-specific Tregs generated by retroviral gene transfer to ameliorate arthritis through linked suppression and therefore without cognate recognition of the disease-initiating antigen. We explored two distinct strategies: T cell receptor (TCR) gene transfer into purified CD4+CD25+ T cells was used to redirect the specificity of naturally occurring Tregs; and co-transfer of FoxP3 and TCR genes served to convert conventional CD4+T cells into antigen-specific regulators. Following adoptive transfer into recipient mice, the gene-modified T cells engrafted efficiently and retained TCR and FoxP3 expression. Using an established arthritis model, we demonstrate antigen-driven accumulation of the gene modified T cells at the site of joint inflammation, which resulted in a local reduction in the number of inflammatory Th17 cells and a significant decrease in arthritic bone destruction. Together, we describe a robust strategy to rapidly generate antigen-specific regulatory T cells capable of highly targeted inhibition of tissue damage in the absence of systemic immune suppression. This opens the possibility to target Tregs to tissue-specific antigens for the treatment of autoimmune tissue damage without the knowledge of the disease-causing autoantigens recognized by pathogenic T cells.