The prevalence of autoimmune, immunologic and transplant-related diseases continues to increase while the knowledge of their pathogenesis and development of novel disease-modifying therapies lag behind. Over 5% of people in U.S. suffer from autoimmune diseases and up to 50% who received allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) will develop chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD). Medical treatments remain unsatisfactory. Therefore, novel therapeutic and preventative approaches are desperately needed. The use of cell-based therapies has shown great promises for achieving the goals of prevention and cure. FOXP3+ regulatory T cells (Tregs) are central to the control of autoimmunity and maintenance of tolerance. Preclinical studies have convincingly demonstrated their therapeutic application for the prevention and treatment of multiple immune-mediated conditions. The critical next step is to translate those results into human treatments. A major hindrance is the lack of an efficient method to expand, isolate and characterize a highly purified Treg population of sufficient number for adoptive immunotherapy. To further develop on our established method for isolation of large quantity of highly purified Tregs from expansion cultures based on their selective expression of latency associated peptide (LAP), this project will address 1) the association and biomarkers of Treg repertoire, subsets and function for patients with allo-HCT who will develop cGHVD, 2) the function of CD121a and CD121b on LAP+ Tregs, and 3) the stability and potency of these LAP+ Tregs. The ultimate goal is to develop a LAP+ Treg product for clinical treatment of GVHD and other autoimmune conditions.
Three specific aims have been established to accomplish these objectives.
The first aim i s to prospectively assess whether Treg repertoire, subset and function can predict patients with allo-HCT who will develop cGVHD. The outcome of this aim with provide justification for immunotherapy with Tregs to prevent or treat GVHD.
The second aim i s to decipher the role of CD121a and CD121b in maintaining Treg stability and suppressor function.
The third aim will address the efficacy and stability of expanded LAP+ Tregs in vivo using a preclinical humanized murine model of GVHD. The successful accomplishment of these aims with provide the critical bridge for a clinical trial with LAP+ Tregs to treat or prevent cGVHD. The outcome of this project will make a significant advancement toward Treg adoptive immunotherapy and a major impact on clinical research for novel treatments of autoimmune, immunologic and transplant-related conditions by developing an efficient and reproducible method to consistently obtain highly purified Tregs and by providing quality assessment of the Treg products.

Public Health Relevance

The prevalence of autoimmune, immunologic, and transplant-related diseases continues to increase while the knowledge of the cause and development of effective treatments lag behind. These conditions have a high degree of morbidity and mortality and a lack of satisfactory treatments. Novel therapeutic and preventative approaches are desperately needed. The goal of this project is to establish a platform and obtain essential knowledge for the development of a novel, curative cell therapy for these devastating conditions.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01HL113304-03
Application #
8644876
Study Section
Transplantation, Tolerance, and Tumor Immunology (TTT)
Program Officer
Wagner, Elizabeth
Project Start
2012-04-01
Project End
2017-03-31
Budget Start
2014-04-01
Budget End
2015-03-31
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$376,590
Indirect Cost
$91,102
Name
University of Texas Health Science Center Houston
Department
Pediatrics
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
800771594
City
Houston
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
77225
Hoang, Thomas K; He, Baokun; Wang, Ting et al. (2018) Protective effect of Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 against experimental necrotizing enterocolitis is mediated by Toll-like receptor 2. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 315:G231-G240
He, Baokun; Hoang, Thomas K; Tran, Dat Q et al. (2017) Adenosine A2A Receptor Deletion Blocks the Beneficial Effects of Lactobacillus reuteri in Regulatory T-Deficient Scurfy Mice. Front Immunol 8:1680
He, Baokun; Hoang, Thomas K; Wang, Ting et al. (2017) Resetting microbiota by Lactobacillus reuteri inhibits T reg deficiency-induced autoimmunity via adenosine A2A receptors. J Exp Med 214:107-123
Zakhour, Ramia; Tran, Dat Q; Degaffe, Guenet et al. (2016) Recent Thymus Emigrant CD4+ T Cells Predict HIV Disease Progression in Patients With Perinatally Acquired HIV. Clin Infect Dis 62:1029-1035
Zakhour, Ramia; Tran, Dat Q; Heresi, Gloria P et al. (2016) CD31 Expression on CD4+ Cells: A Simple Method for Quantitation of Recent Thymus Emigrant CD4 Cells. Am J Trop Med Hyg 95:970-972
Fatheree, Nicole Y; Liu, Yuying; Ferris, Michael et al. (2016) Hypoallergenic formula with Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG for babies with colic: A pilot study of recruitment, retention, and fecal biomarkers. World J Gastrointest Pathophysiol 7:160-70
Liu, Yuying; Hoang, Thomas K; Wang, Ting et al. (2016) Circulating L-selectin expressing-T cell subsets correlate with the severity of Foxp3 deficiency autoimmune disease. Int J Clin Exp Pathol 9:899-909
Degaffe, G; Zakhour, R; Zhang, W et al. (2015) Forkhead box protein 3(+) regulatory T cells and Helios(+) subset in perinatally acquired HIV. Clin Exp Immunol 180:108-17
Kuehn, Hye Sun; Ouyang, Weiming; Lo, Bernice et al. (2014) Immune dysregulation in human subjects with heterozygous germline mutations in CTLA4. Science 345:1623-1627
Liu, Yuying; Tran, Dat Q; Fatheree, Nicole Y et al. (2014) Lactobacillus reuteri DSM 17938 differentially modulates effector memory T cells and Foxp3+ regulatory T cells in a mouse model of necrotizing enterocolitis. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 307:G177-86

Showing the most recent 10 out of 15 publications