Extracellular domain, hinge, and transmembrane determinants affecting surface CD4 expression of a novel anti-HIV chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) construct.

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells have demonstrated clinical potential, but current receptors still need improvements to be successful against chronic HIV infection. In this study, we address some requirements of CAR motifs for strong surface expression of a novel anti-HIV CAR by evaluating im...

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Main Authors: Giorgio Zenere, Chengxiang Wu, Cecily C Midkiff, Nathan M Johnson, Christopher P Grice, William C Wimley, Amitinder Kaur, Stephen E Braun
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293990
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author Giorgio Zenere
Chengxiang Wu
Cecily C Midkiff
Nathan M Johnson
Christopher P Grice
William C Wimley
Amitinder Kaur
Stephen E Braun
author_facet Giorgio Zenere
Chengxiang Wu
Cecily C Midkiff
Nathan M Johnson
Christopher P Grice
William C Wimley
Amitinder Kaur
Stephen E Braun
author_sort Giorgio Zenere
collection DOAJ
description Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells have demonstrated clinical potential, but current receptors still need improvements to be successful against chronic HIV infection. In this study, we address some requirements of CAR motifs for strong surface expression of a novel anti-HIV CAR by evaluating important elements in the extracellular, hinge, and transmembrane (TM) domains. When combining a truncated CD4 extracellular domain and CD8α hinge/TM, the novel CAR did not express extracellularly but was detectable intracellularly. By shortening the CD8α hinge, CD4-CAR surface expression was partially recovered and addition of the LYC motif at the end of the CD8α TM fully recovered both intracellular and extracellular CAR expression. Mutation of LYC to TTA or TTC showed severe abrogation of CAR expression by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Additionally, we determined that CD4-CAR surface expression could be maximized by the removal of FQKAS motif at the junction of the extracellular domain and the hinge region. CD4-CAR surface expression also resulted in cytotoxic CAR T cell killing of HIV Env+ target cells. In this study, we identified elements that are crucial for optimal CAR surface expression, highlighting the need for structural analysis studies to establish fundamental guidelines of CAR designs.
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issn 1932-6203
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publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
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spelling doaj-art-e8dbe9a7e70048bfb98b004007c0f0382025-08-20T03:59:35ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01198e029399010.1371/journal.pone.0293990Extracellular domain, hinge, and transmembrane determinants affecting surface CD4 expression of a novel anti-HIV chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) construct.Giorgio ZenereChengxiang WuCecily C MidkiffNathan M JohnsonChristopher P GriceWilliam C WimleyAmitinder KaurStephen E BraunChimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells have demonstrated clinical potential, but current receptors still need improvements to be successful against chronic HIV infection. In this study, we address some requirements of CAR motifs for strong surface expression of a novel anti-HIV CAR by evaluating important elements in the extracellular, hinge, and transmembrane (TM) domains. When combining a truncated CD4 extracellular domain and CD8α hinge/TM, the novel CAR did not express extracellularly but was detectable intracellularly. By shortening the CD8α hinge, CD4-CAR surface expression was partially recovered and addition of the LYC motif at the end of the CD8α TM fully recovered both intracellular and extracellular CAR expression. Mutation of LYC to TTA or TTC showed severe abrogation of CAR expression by flow cytometry and confocal microscopy. Additionally, we determined that CD4-CAR surface expression could be maximized by the removal of FQKAS motif at the junction of the extracellular domain and the hinge region. CD4-CAR surface expression also resulted in cytotoxic CAR T cell killing of HIV Env+ target cells. In this study, we identified elements that are crucial for optimal CAR surface expression, highlighting the need for structural analysis studies to establish fundamental guidelines of CAR designs.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293990
spellingShingle Giorgio Zenere
Chengxiang Wu
Cecily C Midkiff
Nathan M Johnson
Christopher P Grice
William C Wimley
Amitinder Kaur
Stephen E Braun
Extracellular domain, hinge, and transmembrane determinants affecting surface CD4 expression of a novel anti-HIV chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) construct.
PLoS ONE
title Extracellular domain, hinge, and transmembrane determinants affecting surface CD4 expression of a novel anti-HIV chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) construct.
title_full Extracellular domain, hinge, and transmembrane determinants affecting surface CD4 expression of a novel anti-HIV chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) construct.
title_fullStr Extracellular domain, hinge, and transmembrane determinants affecting surface CD4 expression of a novel anti-HIV chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) construct.
title_full_unstemmed Extracellular domain, hinge, and transmembrane determinants affecting surface CD4 expression of a novel anti-HIV chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) construct.
title_short Extracellular domain, hinge, and transmembrane determinants affecting surface CD4 expression of a novel anti-HIV chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) construct.
title_sort extracellular domain hinge and transmembrane determinants affecting surface cd4 expression of a novel anti hiv chimeric antigen receptor car construct
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293990
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