Tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy is a type of adoptive cell therapy, where the lymphocytes of a cancer patient's tumor are harvested, expanded in vitro using IL-2 stimulation, and then infused back into the patient Rosenberg and Restifo (2015 Science 348 62-68), Bonini and Mondino (2015 Eur. J. Immunol. 45 2457-69).
However, even with the use of TIL therapy, cancer cells can survive for various reasons, such as poor lymphocyte infiltration into tumors, chronic activation of the T cell receptor and the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment Morgan et al (1976 Science 193 1007-8). Cytokine-inducible SH2-containing (CISH) protein is a negative regulator of T cell activation, and in a recent clinical trial was knocked out in TILs to improve TIL therapy efficacy Rosenberg et al (1985 J. Exp. Med. 161 1169-88).
A mechanistic signaling pathway model was developed to theoretically evaluate the efficacy of CISH knockout ( CISH KO) in T cell activation and examine potential alternative target genes that can theoretically be targeted using multiplex gene-editing or drugs to further improve T cell activation and function Donohue et al (1984 J. Immunol. 132 2123-8).
Based on the results, CISH knockout increases the transcription of activation biomarkers IL-2 and TNF- , but also inhibitory biomarkers such as PD1 and FasL. Using global sensitivity analysis, we also found that GSK3B , which is responsible for the deactivation of NFAT, is also predicted to further increase T cell activation when knocked out.
In addition, it was predicted that PDCD1, FAS and CTLA4 can be knocked out in combination with CISH to further enhance T cell activation and prevent exhaustion and apoptosis.