In vivo human T cell engineering with enveloped delivery vehicles

Authors:
Hamilton JR, Chen E, Perez BS, Sandoval Espinoza CR, Kang MH, Trinidad M, Ngo W, Doudna JA
In:
Source: Nature
Publication Date: (2024)
Issue: 11: 10.1038/s41587-023-02085
Research Area:
Cancer Research/Cell Biology
Immunotherapy / Hematology
Gene Expression
Basic Research
Molecular Biology
Drug Discovery
Cells used in publication:
T cell, human stim.
Species: human
Tissue Origin: blood
293T
Species: human
Tissue Origin: kidney
Culture Media:
Platform:
4D-Nucleofector® 96-well Systems
Experiment

T cell culture
Cryopreserved PBMCs (AllCells) were thawed in X-VIVO 15 (Lonza) with 50 µM 2-mercaptoethanol (Gibco), 5% fetal bovine serum (VWR) and 10 mM N-acetyl l-cysteine (Sigma-Aldrich). This media was also used to culture the T cells isolated from PBMCs.

Cas9 RNP electroporation
B2M-targeting crRNA (IDT) and tracrRNA (IDT, no. 1072534) were resuspended in IDT duplex buffer to 160 µM, combined at a ratio of 1:1 and annealed at 37 °C for 30 min. Cas9 RNPs were formed by combining the annealed crRNA and tracrRNA and 40 µM Cas9-NLS (UC Berkeley QB3 MacroLab) at a molar ratio of 2:1 and incubating at 37 °C for 15 min. Electroporation was performed using a 96-well format 4D-nucleofector (Lonza) with 200,000 cells per well. HEK293T cells were electroporated with the SF buffer and the CM-130 pulse code, and primary human T cells were electroporated with the P3 buffer and the EH-115 pulse code. Cells were immediately resuspended in pre-warmed media, incubated for 20 min and transferred to culture plates.

Abstract

Viruses and virally derived particles have the intrinsic capacity to deliver molecules to cells, but the difficulty of readily altering cell-type selectivity has hindered their use for therapeutic delivery. Here, we show that cell surface marker recognition by antibody fragments displayed on membrane-derived particles encapsulating CRISPR–Cas9 protein and guide RNA can deliver genome editing tools to specific cells. Compared to conventional vectors like adeno-associated virus that rely on evolved capsid
tropisms to deliver virally encoded cargo, these Cas9-packaging enveloped delivery vehicles (Cas9-EDVs) leverage predictable antibody–antigen interactions to transiently deliver genome editing machinery selectively to cells of interest. Antibody-targeted Cas9-EDVs preferentially confer genome editing in cognate target cells over bystander cells in mixed populations, both ex vivo and in vivo. By using multiplexed targeting molecules to direct delivery to human T cells, Cas9-EDVs enable the generation of genome-edited chimeric antigen receptor T cells in humanized mice, establishing a programmable delivery modality with the potential for widespread therapeutic utility.