Biomaterials in Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-Cell Process Development

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has transformed the cancer treatment landscape, utilizing ex vivo modified autologous T cells to treat relapsed or refractory B-cell leukemias and lymphomas. However, the therapy's broader impact has been limited, in part, by a complicated, lengthy, and expensive production process. Accordingly, as CAR T-cell therapies are further advanced to treat other cancers, continual innovation in cell manufacturing will be critical to their successful clinical implementation. In this Account, we describe our research efforts using biomaterials to improve the three fundamental steps in CAR T-cell manufacturing: (1) isolation, (2) activation, and (3) genetic modification.Recognizing that clinical T-cell isolation reagents have high cost and supply constraints, we developed a synthetic DNA aptamer and complementary reversal agent technology that isolates label-free CD8⁺ T cells with high purity and yield from peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Encouragingly, CAR T cells manufactured from both antibody- and aptamer-isolated T cells were comparable in therapeutic potency. Discovery and design of other T-cell specific aptamers and corresponding reversal reagents could fully realize the potential of this approach, enabling inexpensive isolation of multiple distinct T-cell populations in a single isolation step.Current ex vivo T-cell activation materials do not accurately mimic in situ T-cell activation by antigen presenting cells (APCs). They cause unequal CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T-cell expansion, necessitating separate production of CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ CAR T cells for therapies that call for balanced infusion compositions. To address these shortcomings, we designed a panel of biodegradable cell-templated silica microparticles with supported lipid bilayers that display stimulatory ligands for T-cell activation. High membrane fluidity, elongated shape, and rough surface topography, all properties of endogenous APCs, were found to be favorable parameters for activation, promoting unbiased and efficient CD4/CD8 T-cell expansion while not terminally differentiating the cells.Viral and electroporation-based gene delivery systems have various drawbacks. Viral vectors are expensive and have limited cargo sizes, whereas electroporation is highly cytotoxic. Thus, low-cost nonviral platforms that transfect T cells with low cytotoxicity and high efficiency are needed for CAR gene delivery. Our group thus synthesized a panel of cationic polymers with different architectures and evaluated their T-cell transfection ability. We identified a comb-shaped polymer formulation that transfected primary T cells with low cytotoxicity, although transfection efficiency was low compared to conventional methods. Analysis of intracellular and extracellular barriers to transfection revealed low uptake of polyplexes and high endosomal pH in T cells, alluding to biological and polymer properties that could be further improved.These innovations represent just a few recent developments in the biomaterials field for addressing CAR T-cell production needs. Together, these technologies and their future advancement will pave the way for economical and straightforward CAR T-cell manufacturing.