Article
作者: Jamois, Candice ; Kunz, Leo ; Gasser, Stephan ; Gaillard, Brenda ; Wilson, Sabine ; Appelt, Birte ; Hage, Carina ; Limani, Florian ; Eigenmann, Miro Julian ; Le Clech, Marine ; Marinho, Joana ; Klein, Christian ; Marbach, Daniel ; Bacac, Marina ; Eckmann, Jan ; Vallier, Jean-Baptiste Pierre ; Umaña, Pablo ; Gebhardt, Samuel ; Herter, Sylvia ; Bez, Miriam ; Briner, Stefanie ; Georges, Guy ; Colombetti, Sara ; Bommer, Esther ; Nicolini, Valeria ; Hofer, Thomas ; Jenni, Silvia ; Thom, Jenny ; Lechner, Katharina ; Speziale, Dario ; Varol, Ahmet ; Kuettel, Christine ; Kronenberg, Sven ; Claus, Christina ; Sam, Johannes ; Krishnan, Sreenath M. ; Schoenle, Anne ; Lechmann, Martin ; Korfi, Koorosh
Abstract:Effective T-cell responses not only require the engagement of T-cell receptors (TCRs; “signal 1”), but also the availability of costimulatory signals (“signal 2”). T-cell bispecific antibodies (TCBs) deliver a robust signal 1 by engaging the TCR signaling component CD3ε, while simultaneously binding to tumor antigens. The CD20-TCB glofitamab redirects T cells to CD20-expressing malignant B cells. Although glofitamab exhibits strong single-agent efficacy, adding costimulatory signaling may enhance the depth and durability of T-cell–mediated tumor cell killing. We developed a bispecific CD19-targeted CD28 agonist (CD19-CD28), RG6333, to enhance the efficacy of glofitamab and similar TCBs by delivering signal 2 to tumor-infiltrating T cells. CD19-CD28 distinguishes itself from the superagonistic antibody TGN1412, because its activity requires the simultaneous presence of a TCR signal and CD19 target binding. This is achieved through its engineered format incorporating a mutated Fc region with abolished FcγR and C1q binding, CD28 monovalency, and a moderate CD28 binding affinity. In combination with glofitamab, CD19-CD28 strongly increased T-cell effector functions in ex vivo assays using peripheral blood mononuclear cells and spleen samples derived from patients with lymphoma and enhanced glofitamab-mediated regression of aggressive lymphomas in humanized mice. Notably, the triple combination of glofitamab with CD19-CD28 with the costimulatory 4-1BB agonist, CD19–4-1BBL, offered substantially improved long-term tumor control over glofitamab monotherapy and respective duplet combinations. Our findings highlight CD19-CD28 as a safe and highly efficacious off-the-shelf combination partner for glofitamab, similar TCBs, and other costimulatory agonists. CD19-CD28 is currently in a phase 1 clinical trial in combination with glofitamab. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT05219513.