Chinese Journal of Pharmacovigilance ›› 2022, Vol. 19 ›› Issue (8): 823-827.
DOI: 10.19803/j.1672-8629.2022.08.03

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Biodistribution study of CAR-T cells in non-bearing-tumor and tumor-bearing severe immunodeficient mice

HOU Tiantian1, LI Xuejiao2, SUN Lei2, QIN Chao1, ZHAO Jing1, HUO Yan1, WANG Yu2, GENG Xingchao1#, HUANG Ying1*   

  1. 1National Center for Safety Evaluation of Drugs, National Institutes for Food and Drug Control, Beijing Key Laboratory for Safety Evaluation of Drugs, Beijing 100176, China;
    2Immunotech Applied Science Limited, Beijing 100176, China
  • Received:2022-04-29 Online:2022-08-15 Published:2022-08-15

Abstract: Objective To investigate the proliferation, distribution and persistance of chimeric antigen receptor T(CAR-T)cells in non-bearing-tumor and tumor-bearing severe immunodeficient mice. Methods Non-bearing-tumor mice: The mice received intravenous infusions of CAR-T-FLuc cells that were transduced with firefly luciferase. CAR-T-FLuc cells were monitored by in vivo imaging system at different time points. The animals were sacrificed at 3 hours, 2 days, 7 days, 14 days, 28 days, 56 days, 84 days respectively. Blood, heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney, brain, testis, epididymis, uterus, ovary, stomach, duodenum, bone marrow, fat, skeletal muscle were taken successively. By QPCR, the distribution of CAR-T-FLuc cells were detected in these apparatuses and peripheral blood. Tumor-bearing mice: A tumor model was established, mice were injected with Raji cells via the tail vein, and then the mice were intravenous injected with CAR-T-FLuc. The expression of CAR-T-FLuc cells in vivo and at different time points in various tissues were investigated by the same detection method as in non-tumor-bearing mice. Results In non-bearing-tumor mice: CAR-T-FLuc cells were mainly distributed in the lung and spleen, followed by blood. At 3 hours after administration, the cells were mainly distributed in the lung and then transferred to other organs. The expression of CAR of each organ was higher at 2 days, 14 days and 56 days. And CAR expression was close to zero at 84 days. In tumor-bearing mice: CAR-T-FLuc cells were mainly distributed in the spleen, followed by the lung and blood. CAR expression was detected in peripheral blood 5 minutes after administration, and 1 day, 6 days and 27 days were the peak time of CAR expression. In most tissues, CAR-T cells were detected 3 hours after drug administration, with the highest content in the lungs, followed by a downward trend, and the lowest at 15 days. After that, the CAR-T cell content of each tissue continued to rise, reaching a peak at 55 days. Conclusion CAR-T-FLuc cells are mainly distributed in the spleen, lung and blood in non-tumor-bearing mice and tumor-bearing mice, but the distribution trends in both animals are different. The amplification level in tumor-bearing mice was higher than that in non-tumor-bearing mice.

Key words: chimeric antigen receptor T(CAR-T) cells, biodistribution, NSG mice, tumor-bearing mice, non-bearing-tumor mice, severe immunodeficiency

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