Allogeneic gene-edited HIV-specific CAR-T cells secreting PD-1 blocking scFv enhance anti-HIV activity in vitro

HIV-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells have been developed to target latently infected CD4+ T cells that express virus either spontaneously or after intentional latency reversal. However, the T-cell exhaustion and the patient-specific autologous paradigm of CAR-T hurdled the clinical application. Here, we created HIV-specific CAR-T cells using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells and a 3BNC117-E27 CAR (3BE CAR) construct that enables the expression of PD-1 blocking scFv E27 and the single-chain variable fragment of the HIV-1-specific broadly neutralizing antibody 3BNC117 to target native HIV envelope glycoprotein (Env). In comparison with T cells expressing 3BNC117-CAR alone, 3BE CAR-T cells showed greater anti-HIV potency with stronger proliferation capability, higher killing efficiency (up to ~75%) and enhanced cytokine secretion in the presence of HIV envelope glycoprotein-expressing cells. Furthermore, our approach achieved high levels (over 97%) of the TCR-deficient 3BE CAR-T cells with the functional inactivation of endogenous TCR to avoid graft-versus-host disease without compromising their antiviral activity relative to standard anti-HIV CAR-T cells. These data suggest that we have provided a feasible approach to large-scale generation of “off-the-shelf” anti-HIV CAR-T cells in combination with antibody therapy of PD-1 blockade, which can be a powerful therapeutic candidate for the functional cure of HIV.