CD16-158-valine chimeric receptor T cells overcome the resistance of KRAS-mutated colorectal carcinoma cells to cetuximab.

KRAS mutations hinder therapeutic efficacy of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-specific monoclonal antibodies cetuximab and panitumumab-based immunotherapy of EGFR+ cancers. Although cetuximab inhibits KRAS-mutated cancer cell growth in vitro by natural killer (NK) cell-mediated antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), KRAS-mutated colorectal carcinoma (CRC) cells escape NK cell immunosurveillance in vivo. To overcome this limitation, we used cetuximab and panitumumab to redirect Fcγ chimeric receptor (CR) T cells against KRAS-mutated HCT116 colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. We compared four polymorphic Fcγ-CR constructs including CD16^158F -CR, CD16^158V -CR, CD32^131H -CR, and CD32^131R -CR transduced into T cells by retroviral vectors. Percentages of transduced T cells expressing CD32^131H -CR (83.5 ± 9.5) and CD32^131R -CR (77.7 ± 13.2) were significantly higher than those expressing with CD16^158F -CR (30.3 ± 10.2) and CD16^158V -CR (51.7 ± 13.7) (p < 0.003). CD32^131R -CR T cells specifically bound soluble cetuximab and panitumumab. However, only CD16^158V -CR T cells released high levels of interferon gamma (IFNγ = 1,145.5 pg/ml ±16.5 pg/ml, p < 0.001) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα = 614 pg/ml ± 21 pg/ml, p < 0.001) upon incubation with cetuximab-opsonized HCT116 cells. Moreover, only CD16^158V -CR T cells combined with cetuximab killed HCT116 cells and A549 KRAS-mutated cells in vitro. CD16^158V -CR T cells also effectively controlled subcutaneous growth of HCT116 cells in CB17-SCID mice in vivo. Thus, CD16^158V -CR T cells combined with cetuximab represent useful reagents to develop innovative EGFR+KRAS-mutated CRC immunotherapies.