Receive a weekly summary and discussion of the top papers of the week by leading researchers in the field.

In Science (New York, N.Y.)

Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) costimulatory domains derived from native immune receptors steer the phenotypic output of therapeutic T cells. We constructed a library of CARs containing ~2,300 synthetic costimulatory domains, built from combinations of 13 signaling motifs. These CARs promoted diverse cell fates, which were sensitive to motif combinations and configurations. Neural networks trained to decode the combinatorial grammar of CAR signaling motifs allowed extraction of key design rules. For example, non-native combinations of motifs which bind tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated factors (TRAFs) and phospholipase C gamma 1 (PLCγ1) enhanced cytotoxicity and stemness associated with effective tumor killing. Thus, libraries built from minimal building blocks of signaling, combined with machine learning, can efficiently guide engineering of receptors with desired phenotypes.

Daniels Kyle G, Wang Shangying, Simic Milos S, Bhargava Hersh K, Capponi Sara, Tonai Yurie, Yu Wei, Bianco Simone, Lim Wendell A

2022-Dec-08