title: Molecular immunology lessons from therapeutic T-cell receptor gene transfer.
abstract: The T-cell receptor (TCR) is critical for T-cell lineage selection, antigen specificity, effector function and survival. Recently, TCR gene transfer has been developed as a reliable method to generate ex vivo large numbers of T cells of a given antigen-specificity and functional avidity. Such approaches have major applications for the adoptive cellular therapy of viral infectious diseases, virus-associated malignancies and cancer. TCR gene transfer utilizes retroviral or lentiviral constructs containing the gene sequences of the TCR-alpha and TCR-beta chains, which have been cloned from a clonal T-cell population of the desired antigen specificity. The TCR-encoding vector is then used to infect (transduce) primary T cells in vitro. To generate a transduced T cell with the desired functional specificity, the introduced TCR-alpha and TCR-beta chains must form a heterodimer and associate with the CD3 complex in order to be stably expressed at the T-cell surface. In order to optimize the function of TCR-transduced T cells, researchers in the field of TCR gene transfer have exploited many aspects of basic research in T-cell immunology relating to TCR structure, TCR-CD3 assembly, cell-surface TCR expression, TCR-peptide/major histocompatibility complex (MHC) affinity and TCR signalling. However, improving the introduction of exogenous TCRs into naturally occurring T cells has provided further insights into basic T-cell immunology. The aim of this review was to discuss the molecular immunology lessons learnt through therapeutic TCR transfer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Molecular Pathology, Division of Infection and Immunity, UCL Medical School, Royal Free Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Sharyn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Hans J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Stauss
authors.forename: Emma C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Morris
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D006801:Humans; D016219:Immunotherapy, Adoptive; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy; D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D014161:Transduction, Genetic
chemical_list: D011948:Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell