Probiotic-guided CAR-T cells for solid tumor targeting

A major challenge facing tumor-antigen targeting therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells is the identification of suitable targets that are specifically and uniformly expressed on heterogeneous solid tumors. By contrast, certain species of bacteria selectively colonize immune-privileged tumor cores and can be engineered as antigen-independent platforms for therapeutic delivery. To bridge these approaches, we developed a platform of probiotic-guided CAR-T cells (ProCARs), in which tumor-colonizing probiotics release synthetic targets that label tumor tissue for CAR-mediated lysis in situ. This system demonstrated CAR-T cell activation and antigen-agnostic cell lysis that was safe and effective…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: P30CA013696, 1644869
• UO
  University of Washington
• NI
  National Institutes of Health

  Awards: P30CA013696, TR001873, UL1 TR001873, 1644869
• NC
  National Cancer Institute

  Award: P30CA013696