A VHH-Based Anti-MUC1 Chimeric Antigen Receptor for Specific Retargeting of Human Primary T Cells to MUC1-Positive Cancer Cells.

OBJECTIVE: gene construct using a third generation lentiviral vector in primary human T cells and assessed its effect on antigen specific targeting, activation and cytotoxicity of redirected human T cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: T cells. RESULTS: The transduced T cells had high levels of surface expression of CAR. T cells that expressed anti-MUC1 CAR showed significantly increased secretion of Th1 cytokines, including IL-2, TNF alpha and IFN-γ, as well as cytotoxic activity upon recognition of MUC1 on tumour cells after co-incubation with T47D or MCF-7 (MUC1-positive) compared with A431 (MUC1-negative) or untransduced T cells. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested that, given the unique properties of VHHs to prevent immunogenic responses and tonic signalling, our novel VHH-based anti-MUC1 CAR might be effective for clinical purposes in cancer immunotherapy.